


Who Am I

by GreyHowler



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Wolf's Rain
Genre: Comedy, Family, Friendship, Harry gets a name change, Humor, Kiba and Harry watching and laughing, Kiba being OOC because I can't figure him out, Mild Language, No Slash, No pairings as of yet, SlytherinHarry, Toboe beaing peacemaker, Tsume and Hige bickering, WolfHarry, and sometimes he's the wise old man from the woods, because sometimes he's naive, crossposted on ff.net, no Harry/Draco
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-05-20 07:28:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 74,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14890190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyHowler/pseuds/GreyHowler
Summary: Abandoned for unknown reasons in a graveyard, a young wolf howls for food and warmth. While on a pleasant walk, James and Lily Potter stumble upon the young child, but he's not what they expected. Before their very eyes, the creature changes shape from wolf cub to human baby. Despite it's odd origins, they can't simply leave a child to die in the cold.Same What If WR/HP crossover as on FF.netWill contain some blood/gore though not extensivelyHarry gets a name-changeHarry is in SlytherinHarry is friends with Draco Malfoy (although they are not "evil")No slash. No Harry/Draco. No pairings as of yetUpdates monthly on or around the 15th





	1. The Graveyard

Snow fell lightly in the magical town of Godric’s Hollow on a chilly October night in 1979. It was a rather small town, so small in fact that there were hardly any people outside of their homes, even though it was only eight o’clock at night. It was one of those towns where nearly everyone knew each other and it had a country feel to it without missing any of the necessary stores. This was why James and Lily Potter decided to move there. 

The house in which the couple lived was near the edge of Godric’s Hollow. It was not a large house, nor a small one. It had two stories with a master bedroom, a guest bedroom, and a bathroom for each on the second floor. There was a kitchen and dining room, a living room, and a study on the first floor. It was just big enough to comfortably hold a family of three, although only two inhabited the house.

A man and a woman were huddled together on a couch in the living room of this house, reading together from a book as the snow silently fell outside the large window behind them. Their names were James and Lily Potter. James Potter was rather handsome with scraggly black hair and blue eyes. He wore large, round glasses that rested easily on his nose and there were traces of smile wrinkles around the edges of his eyes. His tenor voice range clear and strong throughout the living room as he read through each chapter. Lily’s beauty matched her husband's perfectly to create the perfect couple. Her long brown hair fell gently down her back and shoulders as her green eyes peered eagerly over James’s shoulder at the book. Every once in awhile, she would shift her gentle gaze and features to stare at her husband’s face lovingly before turning back to the book.

They were what some would consider to be recently married (they had just celebrated their two year anniversary) and had just moved into their new home. All of their belongings had been unpacked, but the house still had an air of James had just finished a chapter when Lily spoke.

“James, I’m getting stiff. Why don’t we take a walk outside for a bit?”

James looks out the dark window. “Right now? It’s pretty late,” he replied.

Lily giggled. “That’s the best time to take a walk. Haven’t you ever stood outside and stared at the stars? It’s magical.”

James grinned cheekily back at her. “Honey, we are magical.”

Lily scowled at him. “You know what I mean.” She stood up and started pulling at her husband’s arm. “Come on. Get your jacket on. We’re going for a walk.”  
James sighed and slowly got up. 

Together, they opened the hallway closet and slipped into their jackets. They picked up their wands from the table next to the front door and headed out.

“Lumos,” said James, but Lily protested.

“You won’t be able to see the snow if you do that,” she scolded.

“We won’t be able to see where we’re walking if I don’t.”

“Yes, we will. Our eyes will adjust.”

James sighed and canceled the spell and they continued walking down the street in the direction of the community graveyard. The street was dark and quiet, only lit by the occasional light from a nearby house. Lily maintained a constant upward glance, staring at the twinkling stars as James led her down the sidewalk.

They reached the graveyard and James said, “Haven’t we gone far enough yet? It’s getting very late.”

Lily sighed at him as if he were a little kid on a road trip asking “Are we there yet?” every five minutes. But she relented as she was becoming tired as well. As they began to turn, however, Lily heard a soft whimpering coming from the dark graveyard. She gripped James’s sleeve tightly. It is not uncommon to see ghosts in magical towns such as theirs and most of them were friendly, but this didn’t sound like a ghost to Lily. Plus, they had heard some of Voldemort’s Death Eaters had been spotted nearby.

“Did you hear that?” she asked.

“Hear what?” James replied.

“That sound. Coming from over there.”

“You’re just imagining things.”

“No, I’m not. Listen. There it is again.”

“Maybe we should head back home.”

“Wait, James. It sounds like a puppy.”

She let go of James’s arm and started walking toward where she thought the whimpering was coming from.

“Lily, wait. That’s not a very good idea. It could be one of Voldemort’s traps,” James called after her.

Lily ignored him and continued walking. James finally gave up trying to persuade her to come back and followed after her, wand out and at the ready. Lily stopped in the middle of the yard and looked around.

“I could have sworn it came from around here,” she mused.

“Lily, honey, let’s go back. Whatever was here before is gone now,” James pleaded with her.

Lily looked around her one last time before heading back toward James. The noise came again. This time it sounded like a baby’s coo, very near to where she is standing. Lily turned back around and marched around the back of one tombstone. She kneeled down to get a closer look at the thing making the sound. As she stood back up, she was holding something very tenderly in her arms.

“James, look. It’s a baby!”

James rushed over to her and stared at the bundle of blue blankets in her arms. Sure enough, wrapped in several layers lay a baby boy, about two or three months old. He had snow-white skin, black hair and startlingly blue eyes. If he had been awake when Lily had heard him whimpering, he showed no sign of being so, for he was sound asleep in Lily’s arms now.

“I don’t like this, Lily. Why would someone just leave their baby here like this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they were in trouble.”

The bundle in Lily’s arms shifted a bit and one blanket fell over the baby’s face. Lily pulled it back so that it would not inhibit his breathing. . . and nearly dropped the baby. She stifled a scream as she whispered hoarsely to James, who had begun scouting the area for enemies or traps.

“James! James!”

James rushed back through the ankle-deep snow back to Lily and the baby.

“What is it?! What’s wrong?!”

Lily silently held out the blanket for him to see, hands shaking. Where the normal, human baby boy had been just seconds before, lay a sleeping, jet-black wolf cub.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the first few chapters are going to mirror my What If story exactly, so go ahead and skip over these until you reach the chapter called The Tragedy. That's where we'll get into some new stuff.


	2. The Baby

“What is it?” whispered Lily.

James stared blankly at the cub.

“I don’t know. It’s not a werewolf. At least, not one that I’ve ever seen,” he said, puzzled. He glanced around them again as Lily stared fixedly at the bundle in her arms.

“What should we do?” asked Lily.

James sighed. “I don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be any malicious intent anywhere near, but I still don’t like this. Maybe we should take it back home. We can decide what to do there.”

Lily nodded vacantly, still staring at the cub. James grabbed her arm and led his dumbfounded wife away from the graves. They moved back down the street in the direction of their house at a slightly faster pace than they had been walking when they first came. They reached their home before long and James ushered his wife inside. He took off his coat and hung it back in the hall closet, then turned to Lily. She was still staring down at the bundle in her arms. He lightly touched her arm and she looked up at him. But her face is not filled with fear as he expected it to be; instead, it seemed she was pleading with him.

“Please, James. Can we keep him?” she asked quietly.

James was dumbfounded. She had been terrified of it when she had seen it change forms, but now she wanted to keep it without knowing exactly what it was. What had happened in the few minutes it had taken them to get home to change her mind so drastically?

“Lily, I think we should think about this first. What if it’s some Dark Creature? It might turn on us once it gets older. Even if it isn’t a Dark Creature, which seems highly unlikely, even a regular wild animal would eventually turn on its keepers eventually.”

“But he won’t be wild, James. He won’t grow up knowing anything about the wild. We’ll raise him to be a normal boy.”

“But what if he can’t be normal? What are we going to do then?” he nearly shouted, pointing at the bundle in her arms, which had turned back into a human boy.

“A Blood Adoption will suppress those characteristics!” she shouted back.

“What’s a Blood Adoption?” asked James confusedly after a pause. 

Lily sighed. “A Blood Adoption Ceremony allows someone to adopt a child into their blood family. The child will take on characteristics of the parent.”

“Just characteristics?”

“Yes. So there is still a chance he will retain this transformation ability, but he should lose most of those animalistic qualities. He will essentially become our son.”

James considered this for a few seconds. “And you know this for sure?”

“No. No one has ever performed a Blood Adoption on anything other than a muggle or another wizard.”

James sighed, enveloping his face in his hands. He looks back up after about a minute. “So this may not work--” Lily nodded. “--but you still want to do this?” Lily nodded again.

“I know I’ve just met him, James, but I love him. And he’s still at least somewhat human. We can’t in good consciousness leave him out there.”

James opened his mouth.

“Or let someone else deal with him. He was most likely abandoned because of his strangeness. We are probably some the of the most capable wizards in England. I don’t want some other family to have to deal with this.”

James shut his mouth and sighed again. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Are you absolutely, positively sure you want to do this? We might be able to get Dumbledore—“

“No! I don’t want anyone else to know about this! Once we perform the Blood Adoption, he will be ours.”

“How are we going to explain this then?”

“We’ve been married for two years already and, although we haven’t tried, I haven’t gotten pregnant. Just tell them that we gave up and adopted a baby.”

“They won’t become suspicious if he ends up look exactly like one of us?”

“Tell them that we performed the Blood Adoption.”

James sighs again and looks at his wife. “If you’re sure about this.”

“I am, James. I want him to be my son.”

“Alright. But if something happens, he’s out of here. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

Lily giggled. “Nothing will happen, James. We’ll raise him to be a good boy. And if something does happen, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I was top of my classes, remember.”

“Yes, I remember. Okay. What do we need to do for this ceremony?”

“All we need to do is take a couple of drops of blood from each of us and recite a spell.”

James laughed awkwardly. “Sounds like a cult.”

“Well, that’s how cults started. Some muggles secretly watched a wizard family perform a Blood Adoption Ceremony and decided that if they altered it a bit, they would become powerful. Like wizards and witches.”

“Uh-huh. Well, when can we do this?”

“I have to go to the library to find the book that has the spell in it, so we can do it sometime tomorrow.”

James grinned. “So the book-worm never learned that spell. Tsk-tsk, Lily. I expected better of you.”

Lily scowled at him. “Well, I never thought that I would have to use it.”

James yawned. “So what are we going to do with him tonight?”

Lily contemplated this. “We could put him in the guest bedroom, but we’d have to conjure him a crib.”

James stared at the baby in her arms, which had turned back into a wolf, but was awake and yipping softly at them. “I sure hope this works, Lily. We’ll have a lot to explain if it doesn’t.”

“It will, James. Stop worrying. Now go conjure me a crib while I see if I can find anything for him to eat.”

James nodded and headed up the stairs and Lily walked into the kitchen. She shifted the cub so she could hold him with one arm and open the fridge with the other. She peered into the fridge for a moment before speaking softly.

“Well, dear, I never thought we would have a baby without any notice, but it’s a good thing I like to cook with goat’s milk,” she said and pulled out a small glass bottle of the white liquid. She set the bottle on the island in the middle of the kitchen and reached into one of the cupboards. Since it had stayed in his wolf form, so she decided to try feeding it with the bowl first. She poured a bit of milk into the bowl and placed it in the microwave for a few seconds. Once the milk was warmed and back on the island, she unwrapped the baby. 

His wolf fur shimmered in the light as he crawled out of the blankets and over to the bowl. He sniffed at the bowl for a moment before hesitantly tasting it, then hungrily lapping at it. Lily tentatively reached out to pet the cub. Her hand rested lightly on his head, but he gave no indication that he noticed her. She began to stroke him, starting between his ears and moving slowly down his back. They continued like this for a few minutes, then Lily pulled back her hand and rested her head on her hands on the island.

“What are you?” she whispered softly. The cub stopped drinking and whined at her. She lifted her head to see that the bowl was empty. She reached for the milk bottle and started to pour some more into the bowl, but the cub jumped at her hand, eager for more milk. Startled, she let out a small scream and the bottle crashed to the island.

“LILY?! WHAT’S WRONG?! WHAT HAPPENED?!” yelled James as he thundered down the stairs. He ran to the kitchen and his shoes screeched on the tile as he came to a halt and surveyed the kitchen. Lily, the cub, the island, and the floor were covered in milk. Lily began to giggle, which turned into a full belly-laugh. James walked toward her with his arms outstretched.

“What happened?” he asked as Lily leaned forward into his arms, still laughing.

“I’m sorry, James. He jumped at the milk bottle and I spilled it everywhere,” she said.

They both looked over to the cub who was trying frantically to lick up the spilled milk. Lily’s laugh gradually slowed until she only let out a few giggles every now and then. She let go of James and stepped away from him.

“Did you get the crib set up?” she asked him.

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” he replied, still staring at the cub.

Lily heaved a great sigh to relieve herself of the rest of her giggles. “Well, then. Would you rather put him to bed or clean up this mess?”

“I guess I’ll clean up. I don’t know anything about babies. Or wolf cubs,” he replied.

Lily put her hands on her hips and leaned forward. “And I do?”

“Well, you’re the one that wants to become a mother, so you’re more likely to have read about what to do. At least, with the human part.”

Lily laughed again. “You’re right,” she says. “I suppose I do know a little about this.”

She picked up the cub, who had finished licking the island and was yawning widely, and walked out of the room as James pulled out his wand.

“Well,” she said to the writhing cub, “I guess we better have a shower before bed.”

She walked up the stairs and into the master bathroom. She set the cub down and he started to crawl around on the floor, exploring his surroundings, as Lily undressed. Her top fell to the floor on top of the cub and he yelped at the sudden weight. Lily giggled and picked up the clothing, placing it in the laundry bin. The cub stood up, shook himself, and continued exploring.

Lily finished undressing and picked up the cub. She walked over to the shower and turned on the hot water. She ran it for a few minutes to make sure the temperature was perfect before stepping into the shower. She set the cub down on the tile and closed the shower door. The pup sat down, confused by the warm water falling on him. Lily reached over to one of the shelves and grabbed the soap bottle. She squirted some into her hand and rubbed the soap into the pup’s fur. He stayed surprisingly still as she scrubbed him. Only when she had finished with him and began washing herself did he get up and start slipping around the shower.

The shower was built with a slight incline leading toward the drain and the combination of soap and water caused the cub to fall and slide comically down to the drain. He whimpered and stood up again, trying to shake the water from his fur. Lily quickly finished washing the milk from her hair and turned off the shower. She stepped out, leaving the door open, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around herself. Then, she turned to watch the cub.

He tried to follow Lily out of the shower, but the step was just a little bit too high and he tumbled over himself to the floor. He stood up and shook himself, spraying water all over the floor. Smiling, Lily grabbed another towel and rubbed the pup dry, then wrapped him in the towel and carried him to the guest bedroom. 

Their guestroom had a queen-size bed, a dresser, a chair and a small closet. Lily had been proud of the arrangement of this room, but now it would have to be turned into a nursery. She was a little miffed that she had put so many hours into this room’s arrangement and it had not been used once, but she knew she would enjoy building the perfect playroom for her new baby. James had begun the transformation by conjuring a crib next to the bed. 

She set the cub in the crib, then stripped the bed of its blankets and folded them around him. He watched her as she gathered the blankets then sat down abruptly under their heavy weight as she draped them around him. She smiled and debated with herself about whether she should wait for him to fall asleep. As much as she wanted to watch his heavy lids fall slowly over his great blue eyes, she knew that her presence would arouse his curiosity about what she was doing and he would not want to go to sleep.   
So she slowly backed out of the room and closed the door. She waited there for a moment, listening for movement. When she didn’t hear anything, she moved farther down the hallway to the master bedroom. The master bedroom was furnished much the same as the guest room, including a king-size bed and a vanity for Lily. A door next to the bed led to a large walk-in closet and another door across from the bed opened to a large bathroom. 

James was laying in their bed, but he sits up as she enters.

“Well?” he asked.

Lily shrugged. 

“He did fine in the shower,” she replied. “I just put him in the crib. I’ll check on him once I get dressed.” 

She moved to the dresser and pulled out a night shirt. Once she had her bed clothes on, she used the towel to rub her long hair dry. She sat at her vanity and started brushing the tangles out of it. James was still on the bed, propped on his elbow.

“Are you still sure you want to do this?” he asked.

Lily gave him a look in the mirror. James sighed. “All right, but you’d better find out what he is first.”

Lily nodded and finished brushing her hair. Then she stood up again and started to leave the room, but she paused at the doorway.

“Want to come with me?” she asked James with a tantalizing smile.

James sighed and got off the bed. Together they walked down the hallway to the guest bedroom. Lily slowly and quietly opened the door. She stuck her head in and then opened the door a bit wider so that James could see. James peeked through the crack at the crib directly in front of them. In the pale light from the hallway, he could see the cub sleeping soundly, cuddled in his blankets. Lily leaned against him, looking through the doorway with him.

“We’ll make this work, James. Don’t worry,” she reassured him.

James sighed. “If you say so.”  
Lily smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “I do say so.”


	3. Becoming a Family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't figured it out by now, my ANs are in parenthesis. They're supposed to be bold so you can distinguish them from the story, but for some reason I can't bold them, so I'll try to keep parenthesis out of the story except when I use them as a note.

"WHAAAAAHHHHHOOOO!"

Lily moaned and rolled to her other side in their bed, toward James. She didn't want to get up yet. It was Saturday, so why had James set the alarm?

"AAAAHHHHOOOOOOOO!"

"James, turn that off," said Lily.

"I thought it was yours," mumbled James.

Lily sat up groggily. "Then what is it?"

James was still half-asleep and didn't answer her.

"WHAAAAAAHHHHH!"

Lily's eyes widened as she finally woke all the way up and remembered the previous night's events.

"Oh, my gosh! I forgot about the baby," she said and leaped out of bed, startling James.

"Who? What? What happened?" he asked, shooting to a sitting position.

"The baby, James! We forgot about the baby!" shouted Lily at him as she ran out the door.

"Oh, right. The baby," moaned James, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Lily sprinted down the short hallway to the guest bedroom and opened the door. Inside, the creature they had picked up the previous night was crying his head off in the crib. He was switching so quickly from his human form to his wolf form that his screams formed a combination of a baby's cry and a wolf's howl. Distantly, Lily noticed that when the baby was in human form, he wore a light blue onesie, but when he switched to wolf form, the onesie disappeared.

Lily smiled, walked over to him and picked him up, struggling to not drop him as his body continued to change constantly.

"Shhh. There, there, little one. It's all right," she crooned, rocking him in her arms. She walked out of the room and down the stairs to get him some more milk, talking softly to him. The baby stopped crying in her embrace and his body-switching began to slow down until he finally managed to maintain his human form.

Lily reached the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out another bottle of goat's milk. She realized that, because the baby was in human form, it probably wouldn't drink from a bowl. So, she reached for her wand which had been left on the island from the night before and conjured him a baby bottle. She poured the milk into the bottle and placed it in the microwave. She bounced the baby, who was still sniffling a bit, on her hip while she waited. The microwave timer went off and she tilted the bottle into the baby's mouth. He grasped it and started sucking hungrily at it, staring at Lily with wide eyes all the while.

James walked down the stairs, wrapped in his bathrobe, and leaned against the doorway to the kitchen, arms folded, watching his wife and the baby. Lily looked up and smiled at him. James smiled back.

"We're a family, now," said Lily.

James laughed nervously.

"Not quite," he said.

Lily gave him a look and he threw up his hands in defeat.

"I simply meant that we haven't performed this ceremony yet."

Lily walked back upstairs, still holding the baby. James followed a few steps behind her.

"We've got a lot to do today. I need to go to the library and I don't think it'll be a good idea to take him with me, so you'll have to babysit for a while," she said.

James groaned, but Lily ignored him and continued, "I won't take long and then we can go out and get him some more clothes and some proper food."

Lily reached their bedroom and began to open her dresser drawers and pull out some clothes. Once she had everything she wanted out, she walked over to where James was sitting on the bed and held out the baby to   
him. James took him awkwardly.

"Here, hold him like this. Make sure to support his head," says Lily as she adjusted his hands.

"Uh-huh," says James, struggling with the baby who is still sucking on the bottle although more slowly. Once James got the baby settled in his arms, Lily walked to the bathroom to get dressed.

"Hey, is he supposed to stare at me like this?" called James worriedly.

Lily's laugh floated through the door, "That means he likes you." They were silent for a few moments as James stared at the baby and Lily combed her hair.

"You know, we have to come up with a name for him. We can't keep calling him 'the baby'," she said.

"Have any suggestions?" asked James.

"Hmmm. I had a grandfather named Gerald."

James looked up, surprised. "What? No. Too old fashioned."

Lily laughed. "Okay, what do you suggest?"

"Well, my grandfather’s name was Henry and Dad’s name was Fleamont.” Lily made a face at the last name and James laughed. “I know. I didn’t think that was a very good name either."

“How about Harry. I’ve always kind of liked that name," said Lily. 

"Okay. Harry it is then."

Lily walked out of the bathroom fully dressed and placed her hands on her hips and sighed happily, looking around the room to see if she had forgotten anything.

"All right, James. I'm going out now. I'll be back as soon as I can," she said as she walked out of the room and down the stairs. James floundered after her with the baby.

"What am I supposed to do if he starts crying? What if he has an 'accident'? What if—"

"You'll do fine. If he starts crying, check his diaper and if that's clean, give him some more milk. He could also need to be burped. He might need a nap, try that one last," she says, grabbing her purse and keys from the   
entry table. "I'll be back as soon as I can. Maybe I'll get you a baby book too."

And just like that, she was out the door. Harry pulled the bottle from his mouth with a pop and a burp.

"Oh, boy," said James.  
________________________________________

"Let's see. Where did I see that book? Hmmm. Ah! There it is," says Lily as she pulled a book from one of the library shelves. She flipped through it quickly and found the Blood Adoption Ceremony. She closed the book   
with a snap.

"Okay, that's one book down. Now let's find one about magical creatures." Lily scanned the shelves for her favorite book of magical creatures, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. She ended up having to ask the librarian where it was, but she finally got her hands on it and set it down on one of the reading tables.

"Let's see. I suppose I'll start with werewolves," she mused and flipped through the book to the entry on werewolves.

It read something like this, "Werewolves are dangerous creatures that should be handled with care. Although the werewolf in human form may turn out to be a kindly old man, he becomes rabid beasts under a full moon. 

Some werewolves are able to transform at will, regardless of the moon. Wizards are turned into werewolves when they are bitten by a werewolf. It is not known how the first werewolf came to be, but it is speculated to have been a self-transfiguration spell gone wrong." (I don’t actually know what the entry says, I just kind of wanted to put that in there since FBWFT is really popular. Sadly, I don’t have it so I have nothing to go on.)

Lily shifted her gaze to the footnote at the bottom that accompanied the asterisk. The words were so tiny it was a miracle she saw it at all. She used a magnification spell and read the paragraph.

"Finius Picklbrook once speculated that some muggle wolves were able to glamour themselves into human form, but this theory is widely ostracized as the ravings of a madman. Picklbrook was admitted to St Mungo's 

Hospital and diagnosed with severe paranoia two years after proposing this hypothesis."

Lily flipped through the book some more but saw no more entries that hinted at what creature Harry might have been. She closed the book, returned it to its place, and continued her search through at least six more magical-beast books, but found nothing.

'I hope James will still go through with the adoption,' she thought as she began to look for a book about baby care.  
________________________________________

"James! I'm home!" called Lily as she closed the front door behind her and put her bag on the entry table. James came running out of the study.

"SHHHH!" he said, dramatically putting a finger to his lips. "I only just got him to go to sleep."

Lily giggled at him. "How did it go?"

James gave her a dull stare.

"Not good, huh? Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."

James flopped onto the couch and sighed. He rubbed his face with his hands and said, "I don't know if I'm ready for this, Lily."

Lily kneeled down on the couch beside him and gave him a peck on the cheek, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Don't I keep telling you that you'll do fine? You already got him to take a nap. That's the hardest thing to do at this age," she reassured him.

"I just don't want to do a shoddy job of it," he said.

"You won't."

"If you say so."

"I do say so. Now, I know you must have worked very hard to get him to sleep, but we still need to perform the blood adoption and go shopping," she said as she stood up. James groaned.

"Alright," he said. "I'll go get him." Lily smiled at him and gave him another kiss.

"Thank you," she said. She walked into the kitchen, placed the ritual book on the island, and took out one of her mother's silver heirloom wine cups. She placed it on the island, then reached for one of her kitchen knives   
and a few napkins and set them down next to the glass.

James walked into the kitchen, holding Harry. The baby was still a bit bleary eyed from sleep and was nodding off onto James's shoulder. James stared at the equipment on the island.

"Are you sure you're doing this right?" he asked.

"Yes, James. It's very easy. I just needed the words to the spell," she replied. Lily flipped through her book to find the lines she needed.

"Okay, James. Are you ready?" she asked him.

"I don't know. Depends on what I have to do," he replied.

"You don't have to do anything. I'll take care of it all."

"All right, then. Let's get started."

Lily picked up the knife and cup and began to speak in Latin.

"Supplices rogamus puer addee familia natum atque ipsum esse censemus." (we humbly request to add this child to our family, that he may be our son and we his parents.)

Lily lifted the knife to her finger and let a few drops of blood drip into the cup, then did the same to James and Harry. She handed James a napkin each for him and Harry to stop the bleeding while she pressed one to her   
own finger. The baby began to scream at the pain and James attempted to quiet him while Lily finished. She swirled the blood around the cup to mix it. The blood began to bubble gently as if boiling.

"Haec oblate nobis sanguine venis et quo nos currere currat nostra." (May this offered blood mix so that ours may run in his veins and his may run in ours.)

Lily waved her wand over the cup as she said this last line. When she is finished speaking, she set down the cup and her wand and looked at Harry. James looked with her and, before their eyes, Harry's pale skin gained a   
pink tinge and his eyes changed to a deep green, just like Lily's. His hair, as well, turned a shade lighter to match James's.

"Okay. Now that that's finished, why don't we go shopping?" said Lily, clapping her hands together for emphasis. James looked at her.

"You mean that's it.? That's all we have to do?" he asked.

"That's all. Let's hurry and get to the store so that Harry can finish his nap.”


	4. The Decision

“James! They’ll be here any minute. Are you done yet?” shouted Lily from the kitchen where she was pulling a meatloaf out of the oven. James’ old school buddies were coming over for a Christmas party the Potters were hosting. It would be the first time their closest friends met Harry and both James and Lily were nervous about it.

“Almost, Lily!” he shouted back.

James was in Harry’s bedroom, dressing him for the party. He had changed Harry’s clothes at least five times before giving up and deciding on a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers outfit. In the last two months, he had become much closer to his son and spoiled the boy as much as he could. 

He finished tying Harry’s shoes, picked him up, and threw him in the air. Harry laughed at the attention and James carried Harry down to the kitchen. 

Ever since the Blood Adoption, James and Lily noticed that, while his human form was still that of a baby, his wolf counterpart continued to grow. Occasionally, while he was sleeping, Harry would turn into a rather large, very leggy—not to mention mischievous—young adult wolf, but otherwise the Potters couldn’t tell he was anything other than a regular human. 

James set Harry in his baby chair at the table with a few toys and walked over to Lily, who was removing the meatloaf from its pan to cool. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her on the cheek.

“James, you’re going to make me drop something,” she laughed.

“That’s ok. The floor’s clean. It’ll still taste great. You’re cooking always does,” he replied.

Lily didn’t get a chance to give him a retort for, at that moment, the doorbell rang. James sighed.

“Here we go,” he said and walked to the front door.

Standing on the door mat were two scruffy men, one taller than the other. The tall man had black hair even more unruly than James’s and a healthy amount of muscle while the second man was rather skinny and had scraggly brown hair.

“James! Merry Christmas. It’s good to see you. Where have you been these past few months?” asked the tall man, reaching forward to shake James’s hand and they slapped each other on the back.

“Good to see you too, Sirius,” said James. He turned to the second, quieter man.

“Merry Christmas, Remus. How’s life treating you?” James asked.

“Better than some, worse than most,” replied Remus.

“Come on in, guys. Lily’s just finishing up in the kitchen,” said James, ushering them through the door. Only then did he notice the rather short, mousey man standing behind the first two.

“Ah! Peter, you made it. Welcome,” said James and closed the door behind the three.

“Nice to see you, James,” squeaked Peter.

The four of them walk into the living room just in time to meet Lily coming from the kitchen with Harry in her arms. “Hello, boys,” she said, reaching forward with her free arm to give each of them a hug.

Sirius stared at the baby in Lily’s arms.

“Well, who’s this?” he asked.

“This is Harry,” replied Lily, bouncing Harry on her hip. 

“Are you babysitting him or something?” asked Sirius, reaching forward with a finger to tease Harry. Harry grabbed on to it enthusiastically and held the finger tightly in his tiny grip.

“No, he’s our son.”

“Oh. Wait, what?” Sirius looked up in surprise, jerking his finger out of Harry’s grip. Harry began to gurgle, upset that his new toy had been taken from him. 

“He’s our son, Sirius,” says Lily, laughing, and reaching to brush Harry’s cheek lovingly to keep him from crying. Harry began tugging t her finger instead.

“Oh, wow. Oh my gosh, James. You have a kid,” and Sirius hugged Lily lightly again before turning to slap James on the back several more times. Remus repeated the sentiment, although less wildly; he shook James’s hand and hugged Lily. Peter just stared silently at the group.

“Can I hold him, Lily?” asked Sirius and Lily gently handed Harry to him. Sirius cradled the baby, who smiled up at him.

“He has James’s hair and Lily’s eyes and smile,” said Sirius and began tickling and blowing raspberries at Harry.

“How old is he?” asked Remus.

“He’s five months,” replied Lily. One of the less-popular spells which Lily had had the pleasure of learning on her own in Hogwarts was one which revealed the birth date of any person. 

Remus looked puzzled. “But how—“

“I was unable to get pregnant, so we adopted him and performed a Blood Adoption,” interrupted Lily nervously.

“Oh.”

“James, your kid is too cute,” said Sirius. “Here, Remus. Want to hold him?”

Remus took Harry, who was still laughing, and cradled him in his arms for a moment, then handed him back to Lily.

“Would you like to hold him, Peter?” she asked. He had faded into the background of the merry party and Lily had nearly forgotten about him.

“No, thank you, Miss Lily,” he replied quietly.

“Well, then. How about we get started on dinner?” said Lily and led them into the dining room. Sirius glanced at the magnificent spread Lily has made for them and she could almost see his mouth watering. 

“Lily, you didn’t have to do all this for us,” said Remus.

“Yes, I did. You’re our dear friends whom we haven’t seen for months,” replied Lily, setting Harry in his high chair. Everyone took their seats at the table and they began to eat, conversing about school and recent events. Soon they were finished with dinner and had moved back to the living room.

“Lily, you’ve outdone yourself tonight,” said Sirius.

“Thank you,” replied Lily, bouncing Harry on her knee. The group continued conversing and laughing together, but soon Lily excused herself to put Harry to bed. She walked up the stairs, rocking the sleepy baby and singing softly to him. She walked into the guest room that they had transformed into a baby room and changed him into a onesie. She spent a few extra minutes alone with him before she laid him down in his crib. She started rocking the crib, still singing. She pulled his blankets up to his chin and kissed his forehead. Lily softly closed the door and walked back down the stairs.

In the living room, she noticed that there was an extra person in the room.

“Hello, Professor Dumbledore. I wasn’t expecting you to be here tonight,” remarked Lily.

“Neither was I, Mrs. Potter, but something urgent has come up,” replied Dumbledore.  
James stood up and took his wife’s hand, leading her back to the couch.

“Lily,” he said, “there has been a prophecy.”

“Oh. What about?”

“According to the prophecy, a child born from a Light family at the end of July will defeat Voldemort,” explained Dumbledore. “I had originally come here to discuss the protection of Neville Longbottom, who I believed to be the only child born in July. However, James has just informed me of young Harry.”

Lily sucked in a breath. “But Harry wasn’t born to us. We adopted him,” she argued.

“We don’t want to take any chances, Lily,” said Dumbledore.

“And Voldemort won’t know that he isn’t your child unless you go straight up to him or a Death Eater and tell them,” said Sirius.

“Then print it in the newspaper! Tell him that Harry has nothing to do with this prophecy!”

“I don’t want to do that, Lily,” says James. “The best way to keep you and Harry safe is to keep him a secret. And they probably won’t believe us anyway. They’d just think we were making excuses.”

“But what if he finds out, James?! What if he finds out we have a child, but he doesn’t know that he isn’t our legitimate son?!” Lily was shouting now, beginning to rise from her seat.

“Shhh, Flower,” said James, using his pet name for her. “You’ll wake Harry.” He pulled her back down to the couch and started rubbing her back. Lily placed her head in her hands and started sobbing.

“What are we going to do, James. I want to keep him safe,” she said.

“We will. Don’t worry,” he replied and glanced up at Dumbledore.

“I have a solution that may help with that,” said Dumbledore.

Lily looked up at him with hopeful eyes. “You do? What is it?”

“We need someone to be a Secret Keeper. If we keep the people who know about Harry to a minimum and your location a secret, the chances of Voldemort finding you are very slim.”

“Ok,” said James. “Who do you suggest to be the Secret Keeper?”

“Perhaps Sirius,” replied Dumbledore. “He is the least likely to give it up.”

“No,” said Lily. “Have Peter do it. He’s very good at blending in.”

“You have a point, my dear,” said Dumbledore gently, “but if Voldemort catches him, I fear he will not last long under the Cruciatus Curse.”

“I agree with Lily,” said Sirius. “Peter should be the Secret Keeper. Hardly anyone notices him and those that do will not know that he knows the Potters.”

“I think so too,” said Remus.

Lily looked over at Peter. “We all want you to do it, but the final decision is up to you, Peter. Will you do it? Will you help keep my family safe?”

Peter fidgeted uneasily for a bit then answered, “Yes. I will become your Secret Keeper.”

“Very well,” said Dumbledore. “Peter will be your Secret Keeper.”

____________________________________________________________________________

Kiba stepped out of the old drainage tunnel and looked around. Hige, Tsume, and Toboe appeared out of the darkness behind him. Each of them lifted their muzzles and sniffed the night air. Crickets chirped in the grass above them and the wind blew softly through their fur. No one said anything for a moment as each was formulating an idea of what had happened to them.

“So, is this Paradise?” asked Toboe.

“I doubt it, Runt,” scoffed Tsume. “There’re still humans here.”

“That means it’s not Paradise? Then why are all the nobles trying to open the gate?” asked Hige.

“How am I supposed to know?” asked Tsume irritably. “Maybe they can get in, but I doubt there would be this many humans in the Paradise that’s supposed to be ruled by wolves. I don’t smell a single wolf anywhere near here. Dogs, sure, but no wolves.”

“It’s gone,” said Kiba quietly.

“What? What’s gone?” asked Toboe.

“Her scent,” said Kiba.

Hige lifted his nose again and took another sniff. “You’re right,” he said. “I don’t smell lunar flowers anywhere. No machines either, at least, not as many.” Hige was silent for a moment before he continued. “It may not be Paradise, I don’t think it’s our world either.”

“Ha ha ha!” laughed Tsume. “And how’s that possible, Porky?”

Hige scowled. “I don’t know, but it’s possible, isn’t it? There’s a place called Paradise that isn’t part of our world. And Zali thought that tunnel would lead us to Paradise. What if it just leads to a different world?”

“I don’t think it’s so ridiculous,” said Toboe. “I mean, we can disguise ourselves as humans and there’s Cheza.”

Tsume turned away from them and growled.

“But there is one other thing,” said Hige.

“What?” asked Kiba.

“I smell a wolf. It’s only a cub though and I don’t smell any others.” Hige looked around at his pack. “What should we do?”

“I say we go see him,” said Toboe excitedly. 

“I doubt he’s old enough to do more than hop around,” said Hige.

“So? I’ve never seen another cub before. And maybe his parents will come back.”

“Runt’s got a point,” said Tsume. 

“Let’s go,” said Kiba. “They might be able to tell us where we are and how we got here.”

Kiba started up the small, steep hill to one side of the ditch the tunnel had led them to. As he crested the hill, he had changed from a white wolf into a tall, young boy with black hair. Hige and Tsume appeared behind him, both in their human forms. Toboe scrambled over the rise behind them, panting slightly, having crawled up the hill much slower than the others for he had changed at the bottom of the ditch. He rested his hands on his knees for a moment before he yelled for his friends to wait and ran after them.

They walked down the well-lit town, following Hige who led them in a zig-zaggy pattern through the streets till they stood in front of a two-story house. It was a very beautiful house, but none of the wolves noticed its beauty. They noticed the scent of fear radiating through the air and the scream that resonated in their ears.

They each glanced at one another before all four ran into the house.


	5. The Tragedy

Voldemort stood in front of the Potter home, silently staring at it with his wand in his hand. Finally, finally, he would be able to rid himself of the rat that would supposedly be his downfall. Pettigrew had immediately come to him that night to inform him they cast the Fidelius Charm, but Dumbledore had occupied Voldemort’s time with changes in the war. Of course, it didn’t help that certain magical creatures decided to launch an attack at one of his headquarters. He had dealt with them accordingly, of course. 

Now he would finally get to kill the Potter brat.

He smiled to himself and walked forward to the front door. He had considered killing James and Lily Potter, but had decided against it. It would be so much sweeter to see them fall into a depression about their child’s death. If they became enraged, that would be even better because they would fling themselves in the line of fire to try to defeat their enemy. 

With the grin still plastered on his face, Voldemort raised his wand and said, “Confringo!”

The plain door in front of him was blasted off its hinges and he walked inside. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily and James Potter on their couch, covering their heads. Immediately, both jumped up with their wands.

“Lily! Run! He’s here!! Take Harry and run!! I’ll hold him off!” shouted James.

“But James—“ cried Lily.

“Just do it!! Get Harry!” interrupted James. Lily ran to the other end of the living room to the kitchen. She would be able to sneak through the entry hall and up the stairs while Voldemort was occupied by James. James sent a “Stupefy” at the Dark Lord, who was still grinning as he deflected the spell and counterattacked. James and Voldemort exchanged spells for a few moments, dodging to one side or the other, but Voldemort managed to shoot off a stinging curse and a stupefy in rapid succession. James dodged the first one, but was hit square in the chest by the second. He fell to the ground unconscious with the force of the spell. 

Voldemort stood where he was for a moment to catch his breath before he turned and started up the stairs. Just as he reached the top of the landing, Lily came out with the baby wrapped in blankets in her arms and a bag slung over her shoulder. 

Lily saw the Dark Lord on her second floor and froze for a moment before she screamed. She turned around and shut the door, quickly turning the lock. “Colloportus,” she said, binding the door. Hopefully, Voldemort would not be able to open it, at least for a while. She turned around and looked in the room for anything she could use. They didn’t keep anything other than the baby things here. She crossed the room to the window and threw it open. She was just about to lower Harry to the ground with a levitating spell when the door exploded, sending shards of wood everywhere.

Lily knelt down over Harry to protect him from the debris. When she looked up, she saw Voldemort standing in the door with his wand raised.

“Please! Don’t!” she shouted and tried to explain Harry’s adoption. “He’s not my legitimate child!” There was no way to get Harry out the window now unless she threw him. Harry started whimpering softly and she rocked him slightly to comfort him.

“Give me the child, Woman,” said Voldemort, walking over to them.

“NO! EXPELLIARMUS!” she shouted.

Voldemort easily dodged the beam of light and sent a Stupefy at her. Lily’s world slowed down as she saw Voldemort open his mouth to shout the spell. She started to kneel down on the ground to curl around her baby to protect him, but stopped when she saw something she would never be able to explain completely to the Aurors that investigated the incident.

A white wolf skidded around the corner of the bedroom door and sank his teeth into the Dark Lord’s leg just as he finished saying the spell. The pain caused him to sink down a few inches and his wand dropped. His spell sailed harmlessly past Lily’s head, who was in a half-crouch staring dumbfounded at the wolf. 

Three more wolves—a grey, a brown, and a tan—appeared in the doorway and attacked Voldemort. The grey latched himself onto the man’s arm while the tan sank his teeth into Voldemort’s other leg. He was almost on the ground down, but was shooting out spells, aiming haphazardly at the wolves, but they danced nimbly out of the way. The brown wolf stood protectively in front of Lily and growled and snapped at their enemy whenever he stumbled too close. 

Lily dared not get up from the floor for streams of light were flying everywhere with no pattern, neither did she attempt to fling her own spells for fear of hitting one of the wolves. With horror, she saw a blue beam hit the white wolf. He yelped as he was flung from Voldemort’s leg and landed five feet away. He didn’t get up. Voldemort screamed as the other two wolves tightened their grip on his flesh. Lily could see blood flowing freely from between their jaws, but it did not seem to hinder their grip. 

Voldemort turned his wand to the grey wolf on his arm and hissed out an Incarcerous curse to bind the wolf. The force of the point-blank spell sent the wolf flying to the other side of the room, hitting the wall with a loud thud. Ropes appeared before he hit the ground and wrapped around the wolf’s muzzle, head, neck, feet, and tail, practically turning him into a wolf-shaped mummy. The wolf growled through his bonds and struggled to get free.

Immediately Voldemort pointed his wand at the tan wolf. The wolf released his clamp on the leg and stepped back to leap at Voldemort’s face, jaws wide open and snarling loudly. 

“Sectumsempura!” shouted Voldemort. The tan wolf was blasted away as several cuts appeared on his body and blood began flowing freely from them. The wolf landed in the doorway with a whimper and lay still with his mouth slightly open. 

“NO!” shouted Lily again, rising to her knees from her curled position. She wished she hadn’t said anything, for Voldemort whirled around, panting, to glare at her. She held Harry tighter as the last wolf, the brown, snarled and barked louder at him. Voldemort raised his wand and shouted, “Stupefy!” just as the brown wolf ran toward him. The wolf easily dodged the spell and latched its jaws around Voldemort’s wand arm. Voldemort screamed again and tried to fling the wolf off his arm, but it was too heavy for him to lift. 

He sank back to the floor, trying to punch the wolf with his other arm. Powerful as he was, Voldemort did not have much arm strength, but he knew to punch the sensitive spots on the wolf’s face. It whimpered pitifully every time Voldemort’s fist connected with his nose or eyes, but never let go. Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw the white wolf stumble to its feet and slowly, silently, make its way to Voldemort. The brown one must have seen it too for it tightened its grip on the Dark Lord’s arm before letting go and leaping away.

Voldemort threw his head back in pain and rage, exposing his neck perfectly for the white wolf to sink its teeth into the soft neck flesh. The Dark Lord coughed and gurgled through the blood leaking out his mouth and neck, apparently trying to say another spell as he fell backward from the force of the white wolf’s jump. A green flash of light surged from his wand, straight toward Lily and her baby.

With horror, Lily saw the spell hit Harry, as she was too slow to protect him. She opened her mouth to scream, but the sound died in her throat when something thumped hard against her chest. She felt the energy disappear from her body as she sank to the floor. The spell had passed right through Harry to her. Its power had diminished somewhat but still caused her to fall to the floor, unable to move anything more than her eyes. On the floor next to her, Harry began to cry loudly. 

She watched with dull eyes and mind as Voldemort struggled to breathe through the blood that was flowing out his mouth and between the white wolf’s teeth still clamped around his neck. The wolf lifted its head quickly and Lily saw something red and dripping fall from its mouth. The Dark Lord gurgled and spasmed once more, then lay still.

As soon as Voldemort’s heart stopped beating, the ropes disappeared from the grey wolf and he stood up and shook himself. The tan wolf lay still for a few more seconds before he groaned and started to get up. The blood from his wounds had stopped flowing and there seemed to be fewer cuts than before on its body, but the wolf still limped a bit as he walked to the others. The brown wolf whined a bit and licked the tan’s muzzle. They stood together for a few moments, assessing each other’s wounds before they turned to Lily. 

They stared at her with their great eyes and Lily would have shaken with fear if she had the energy to do so; as it was, her peripheral vision was already starting to darken. They were so wonderful and terrible at the same time and she hadn’t the slightest idea what they would do. They had already killed one powerful wizard and she had no way to defend herself, her baby, or her husband if he was still alive. 

The white wolf stepped forward silently and lowered his head to sniff Lily and Harry, who was still crying. The wolf moaned comfortingly a few times and, to her surprise, Harry’s crying diminished with each moan until he was just barely blubbering. As soon as Harry stopped crying, the wolf huffed through his nose before stretching his muzzle toward Harry. As he lifted his head, Lily saw that Harry had turned into a black wolf. His nose had connected with the other wolf’s and was following his head upward until he was standing. 

The white wolf disconnected their noses and turned slightly, back toward the door, gesturing with his head. Harry took a tentative step forward, then looked back down at Lily. The white wolf walked around Voldemort’s body to join its companions at the doorway. All four wolves looked expectantly at Harry, who seemed torn between staying with his human “mother” and going with the wolves. The adults waited patiently for Harry to make a decision, giving no outward signs of coercion. 

Lily tried desperately to lift her hand, to speak, to do anything to keep these animals from taking her baby away from her. But she couldn’t do anything, only watch as Harry looked at her one more time before walking awkwardly to the door. The white wolf led the way out the door and down the hall. Harry followed next and the other wolves trailed behind him. Finally, gathering all her strength, she managed to croak out pleadingly, “Harry,” as the brown wolf glanced back at her sorrowfully before he disappeared as well.

A tear fell from Lily’s eye to the floor as the darkness on the edges of her vision finally crowded out all light and she fell into unconsciousness.


	6. Aftermath

Lily slowly opened her eyes. Her head throbbed painfully and felt like her brain had doubled in size while she was unconscious. Her eyes and mouth felt dry and she was still very tired. She moaned as she rolled over to her back and stared at the ceiling for a moment. She really wanted to sob her heart out, but she had no time. She had to find James and, if possible, Harry. She rolled back to her side and sat up on her side. Carefully, arms and legs trembling in exhaustion, she pulled her feet under herself and stood up, leaning heavily on the furniture to steady herself. She almost fell over again as the throbbing in her head increased to an almost unbearable degree. 

Once she was standing, Lily tentatively took a few steps forward and picked up her wand. A few feet in front of it, in the middle of the room, Voldemort lay dead in a large pool of his own blood with his throat torn open. Lily tried to pry her eyes from the terrible sight, but she was too amazed that the Dark Lord was finally dead.

She felt her stomach heave and she quickly looked away with both hands pressed to her mouth. Once she was sure she would not empty her stomach on the floor, Lily stood up and, without looking at the body or blood, made her way through the doorway of the baby room with her wand at the ready. 

Slowly, she walked out the door and down the hallway toward the staircase. She stuck her head in the master and guest bedrooms just to make sure no one was there. When she reached the balcony, she looked down on the living room. Her vision fluctuated before she could make anything out and she had to stop and spend a few seconds breathing slowly and deeply. She didn’t look down at the first floor again, but slowly started down the stairs.

It took her a good five minutes to make it down, but when she did, she saw James lying on top of the pile of debris that used to be their couch. Her stomach heaved again, this time in fear, as she saw his body. “Please don’t let him be dead,” she though as she slowly knelt by his head. Blood was trickling from a cut on his forehead and he had several scratches on his arms and hands, but she saw his chest rise and fall slowly, rhythmically, and let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding. She sobbed in relief and cupped his face in her hands before pointing her wand at James. 

“Enervate,” she whispered. Her throat was raw and her voice was scratchy, but James moaned in response, shifting his arms and torso a bit. Slowly he opened his eyes. He stared at Lily for a moment before they both smiled at each other. 

“We survived,” said James in a daze before he bolted upright, nearly nocking heads with his wife. As soon as he did, one hand flew to his head and the other to his mouth. He stood up quickly and made his way to the kitchen. Lily’s head was still throbbing too painfully to follow him, so she stayed where she was; James probably wanted some privacy anyway. She heard James retching in the sink and almost lost control of her own stomach, but she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths and the feeling went away. Once he was done, James walked back into the living room and knelt next to her, ignoring the blood that dripped down his face.

“Are you alright?” he asked. “Where’s Harry?”

Lily looked at him and opened her mouth, but all that came out was a sob. Fresh, hot tears rolled freely down her cheeks and she placed both hands on her mouth to muffle the sobs. James was worried now; he grabbed both of Lily’s shoulders. Lily sobbed some more but turned her head to the second-floor landing. James looked too and stood up.

He found his wand in the mess they were sitting in and made his way up the stairs. He poked his head in the guest and master bedrooms, but didn’t see anything. At the end of the hall, he turned into Harry’s room and froze. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing: Voldemort was dead. Being an Auror, he was unfortunately rather accustomed to seeing dead and mangled bodies so he was not as affected by the sight as Lily. 

Slowly he walked forward to the body. He stopped at the edge of the pool of blood and squatted down. He looked carefully at Voldemort’s neck; it looked like something had taken a huge chunk of flesh and simply pulled until it tore loose. James looked around and saw, quite close to the body, what he recognized to be the missing part of Voldemort’s neck. He also saw a smaller, streaky puddle of blood next to the doorway. He moved to investigate it. Something had been bleeding while it had skidded across the floor where it had apparently stayed for a while as there was a small puddle of blood where the streaking ended. Small droplets led from the puddle out the doorway. He followed the trail with his eyes and noticed Lily standing in the doorway, eyes still glistening with tears.

As she saw the baby room again, a fresh sob escaped her lips and James rushed forward to envelop her in a hug before she fell to the ground. She clung to him and cried freely. Slowly, he led her to the other side of the doorway and helped her down to the carpet, all the while whispering soothing words to her.

“They took him,” she said between sobs as she lay in his lap. “They took him.”

“Shhh. It’s all right,” said James quietly, stroking her hair and back, even though he knew nothing was alright. Lily cried some more and James used the opportunity to send his Patronus to the Ministry for help and cancel the Fidelius Charm. Slowly, Lily’s sobs lessened in intensity until she was only sniffling. 

“Now. Can you tell me what happened?” asked James. 

“The wolves killed him,” she said. James was confused.

“Wolves? What wolves?”

“The wolves attacked him and they killed him. Then they took Harry,” she said and hiccupped again. 

James was confused. “Wait. What happened?”

Lily glared at him. She took a deep breath and attempted to explain what she saw. “I ran to Harry’s bedroom to get him, but then he was there and then the wolves showed up and killed him and took Harry!” With every word, Lily’s composure collapsed a bit more until she was wailing and sobbing again. 

James saw she was still too distraught to be able to explain anything properly so he merely sighed and wrapped his arms around her shoulders and rocked her in an attempt to calm her down while they waited for the Ministry Aurors to arrive. 

 

“Hey, Kiba?” asked Toboe, quietly.

“Hmm,” grunted Kiba, not moving from his comfortable position.

After the affair at the humans’ house, the pack had traveled out of the town and into the nearby woods. It was slow going because all of them were still battered and bruised, but they had managed to make it far enough away from any humans that they didn’t need to worry about being discovered. Now they were all curled around each other to sleep. 

The new pup had traveled well with them, although he seemed to prefer his human appearance. They took turns carrying him; when he was a wolf, he would bounce around like he had never seen the outside world before, otherwise, the pup rode on their backs in human form. Now he was sound asleep, splayed out in his wolf form in the middle of the close circle the other wolves had made to keep him and each other warm. 

“Why doesn’t he look like a wolf all the time. I wasn’t able to hold a perfect human disguise until I was fully grown,” continued Toboe.

Kiba shifted so he could look at Toboe. “This is a new world. Maybe they are different here.”

Tsume chuckled quietly. “You’ve got that right. Did any of you notice the weird lights that human was shooting out of a stick. Sure, the nobles had some impressive weapons, but nothing like that.”

“Yeah,” said Hige. “That thing was able to cut me and tie up Tsume. The nobles would have had to change weapons to be able to do that.”

“Ok. So the humans are different here, but does that mean wolves are different. I mean, obviously they can disguise themselves to look like humans like we can, but what else? I though we learned the disguise because they were killing us off. We had to disappear to survive. What about them? Are they almost extinct too?” asked Toboe.

“How are we supposed to know, Runt?” asked Hige irritably. “We’ve been here just as long as you and have been everywhere you have. None of us knows any more about this place than you do.”

Toboe scowled and was about to retort when the cub whimpered a bit and snuggled closer to nearest warm spot: Tsume. They all raised their heads to watch the cub. Tsume looked down at it then back at his friends. 

“Looks like he likes you, Tsume,” teased Kiba.

Tsume grumbled and turned his head away from them. He closed his eyes to sleep. The others around him also closed their eyes, but the pup kept bumping Tsume’s stomach. Tsume was so tired that he didn’t even have the energy to growl at the pup or push him away. Half-asleep, he felt it slowly explore his stomach, trying to find a place where he would be enveloped in warmth. Finally, he found Tsume’s leg and wiggled under it until he was wedged between Tsume’s jaw and leg. 

It sniffed around and fidgeted a bit before finally laying still. Tsume automatically curled his head around the cub, whether an instinct to protect it or simply getting more comfortable, Tsume didn’t know and was too tired to think about it.


	7. Inbetween

“Harry Potter Missing”

By Araminta Elphik  
November 2, 1981

On the night of October 31, the Potter household was viciously attacked by the Dark Lord himself. According to an anonymous source, he quickly incapacitated Auror James Potter before following Lily Potter to the nursery. Mrs. Potter attempted to save her baby, but was interrupted by You-Know-Who. 

Just as he was about to kill both mother and child, four wolves, described by Mrs. Potter as one white, one grey, one tan, and one brown, arrived to save the day. Together they attacked the Dark Lord and defeated him, becoming heavily wounded in the process. After being incapacitated by an unknown spell, Mrs. Potter lay helpless as the wolves turned their attention to her. It is unclear why, but the wolves did not harm Mrs. Potter, only taking 1 ½ year-old Harry Potter. 

Aurors were not alerted to the situation until three hours later when Mr. Potter’s Patronus arrived at the Ministry of Magic, asking for help. They arrived at the Potter Manor in the small town of Godric’s Hollow to a scene of complete destruction. The Potter’s living room was covered in rubble from several walls and their front door. The Aurors made their way upstairs to the baby room, which was covered in blood, both wolf blood and You-Know-Who’s. The Dark Lord himself lay in the middle of the room in a pool of his own blood.

Normally, wolves are known for their viciousness, as shown in their attack on You-Know-Who, but these wolves acted unusually for their species. Somehow, these wolves knew the Dark Lord was attacking the Potters and ran to the rescue. It is unclear why the wolves took baby Harry and left his parents unharmed. It is the expectation of many that Harry Potter is already dead, devoured by the wolves, although some, including his parents, hope that the wolves will continue their strange behavior by taking care of the child. 

A blood trail leading from the Potter household indicates to Auror investigators that the wolves are traveling east, although the trail was lost roughly two kilometers from Godric’s Hollow. 

Thanks to the bravery of the Potter family and the heroic wolves, the Dark Lord has met his end. As expected, as soon as the Death Eaters learned of their master’s demise, they became easily subdued by the Ministry’s Aurors. Investigations are being pursued as to who was actually a Death Eater and who was under the forbidden Imperious Curse. At this time, Aurors refuse to comment on the progress of their investigation, but information is expected soon.   
\-----------------------------------

Albus sat behind his huge desk in his office, watching James pace the floor in front of him. Off to the side, Lily sat in a small armchair with her head in her hands where he heard muffled sobs every few seconds. Minerva stood next to her whispering comforting words and squeezing Lily’s shoulders. 

James stopped pacing and strode toward Dumbledore’s desk. 

“Have you found anything yet?” he asked, almost harshly.

Albus looked down at the map spread out on his desk. His wand hovered over it, point down, in an attempt to locate James and Lily’s son. This particular spell would not pinpoint the exact address or movements of a   
witch or wizard, it would show the searcher the town and/or country where the person being sought after was, as long as there wasn’t another spell hiding them such as the Fidelius Charm. It was fairly simple, not very   
well-known, and nearly-always accurate spell. However, it did not seem to be working tonight. 

Albus had repeated the spell several times already and had let this last attempt drag on for quite a while in hopes that the magic simply needed time to find Harry. That did not seem to be the case, however, for Albus’s   
wand had not made any indication of pointing anywhere; it simply hovered over the map in a noncommittal way. 

Albus sighed and shook his head. “No, my boy. I’m afraid I’ve run out of ideas.”

A fresh burst of sobbing erupted from Lily and James looked like he wanted to throw something. Instead, he sat down hard in the chair next to his wife and leaned forward with his head in his hands.

He sat like that for a few seconds before he whispered, “There’s nothing we can do?”

Albus slowly rolled up the map and placed it on a shelf under his desk. “There may be other spells we haven’t tried, but I’m afraid we’ve exhausted everything I know of.”

James lifted his head and leaned toward Lily. “Is there something, some spell, dear, that we haven’t tried?” he asked softly, placing his hand on one of Lily’s. 

She took a shaky breath before replying in a fairly steady voice, “No, we’ve tried more spells than even I knew existed.” Her voice broke at the end and she sobbed again, fresh tears rolled down her cheeks. 

Next to her, Minerva straightened. “Now wait a minute, dearies,” she said. The other three adults looked up at her with hope-filled eyes. She paused, looking uncomfortable, before continuing. “We may not be able to find   
him, but I’ve thought of a way that might tell us if he’s alive or not.”

No one said a word as she made her way over to one of the many shelves in Albus’s office. She looked around for a few seconds before heaving a gigantic tome off its shelf and hauled over to the rest of the group. She   
lay the book down on the desk with a loud thump and turned its pages. She stopped a few pages from the back and began scanning its contents. 

Albus’s eyes twinkled cheerfully when he recognized what the book was. James and Lily looked at him quizzically, neither brave enough to interrupt Minerva while she concentrated.

“It is the Book of Students,” explained Dumbledore. “Every student that has ever attended or ever will attend Hogwarts is recorded in this book. Their parentage, House, grades, and, when applicable, chosen occupation   
are also recorded. If a past or future student has died, the book will automatically cross out his name.”

The group fell silent while Minerva searched for Harry’s name. After a few minutes, the Professor stopped scanning the pages and pointed at one. 

“Here,” she said. Lily and James got up from their seats to see what she was pointing at and Albus leaned forward a bit, tilting his head awkwardly so he didn’t have to read upside down. Sure enough, Minerva had found   
Harry’s name and it was still in pristine condition. Lily let out a sighing laugh as she sat back down in her chair, smiling broadly. James tapped his finger on the desk nervously.

“Is there any way we can use this to find him?” he asked.

“I’m afraid not,” said Minerva. “This book and the spell used were actually created by Merlin himself and he had a tendency to keep such powerful spells to himself. He did not even write them down to remember them.   
There is no way for us to even understand how this spell works, let alone alter it to fit our needs.”

James sighed and leaning down until his head nearly touched the desk. “So there’s really nothing we can do, is there?” he whispered, tilting his head up to look at them. 

Both Minerva and Albus shook their heads.

“When he turns eleven, however, Hogwarts will automatically address him a letter and send an owl to him. That is, if he’s still alive,” said Albus, attempting to cheer the parents up, but his words obviously had the   
opposite effect. Lily’s smile fell and tears leaked from her eyes as she realized that she could do nothing to prevent her child from being killed before the Hogwarts letter reached him. 

She took a slow, deep breath and said, “Will you—?” She had to stop to keep her voice from breaking but soon continued. “Will you let us know if something happens to him-to his name?”

“Of course. Nothing will happen to it that we won’t know about.” The couple glanced at each other and stood up, as did Albus. He made his way around the desk as the couple thanked him. He shook James’s hand and   
gave Lily a hug. 

“I am sorry I could not do more for you. I simply cannot fathom why none of the spells are working, but we will continue trying for you,” he said, smiling sadly. 

“Thank you very much, Professor, for everything,” said Lily. James nodded in agreement. They said goodbye and followed Minerva out the office door. 

As soon as they were gone, Albus sat down hard at his desk and slammed his fist onto the wood.

“Damn,” he whispered.

\-------------------------------------

For 9 ½ years, the four wolves traversed Earth, searching for Paradise, the Flower Maiden, or even a way back to their own world. They learned much about this world and how the normal humans lived. They traveled   
through normal forests and met regular wolves; wolves who did not have the ability to take on a human form, and lived much the same way Kiba, Hige, and Tsume had when they were younger. They would stay with each   
pack for a while, but were restless and soon moved on.

Toboe grew in stature until he was just as large and wise as the rest of the pack. His human features smoothed out into a rather handsome 23-year-old. Tsume, Kiba, and Hige did not change much. Their human features   
grew older, but that just made them more appealing to girls, both human and wolf. The pack had many young ladies swooning over them whenever they decided to venture into a human town. Many female wolves   
attempted to join their pack when they traveled through woods, but the pack never found any quite to their liking, although Hige tried several times to convince the pack to take on a few girls. Not that the girls he chose   
were very keen on traveling around the world.

Bringing the pup with them was the worst thing they could have done, at least in Tsume’s opinion. The rest simply recognized him as being a puppy, although they had difficulty treating him as one sometimes. He had   
obviously never experienced the hard side of life. He bounced around them constantly, running ahead and falling behind, playfully snapping at their faces to play. Toboe was delighted to have someone younger than him,   
as well as a playmate. Hige joined in with games of his own every once in a while. 

A few days after they had visited the humans’ house and found the pup, Toboe brought up the problem of choosing a name. He mentioned hearing the female human saying “Harry” as they were leaving, but none of them   
could figure out if it was a name, if it was a word from a different language, or if she was just babbling nonsense. They decided to disregard the word although none of them really forgot it. Finally, after a few more days   
of bickering, they decided on the name Ashi; the pup had almost no say in the matter because, even though at five months he should have known the intricacies of pack life and been learning the basics of hunting, he   
didn’t seem to have mastered the art of speaking or even thinking for himself.

Ashi traveled with them and soon grew from a gangly pup into a proud adult wolf, learning the ways of the wolf quickly as they traveled, although his human form remained that of a child that wore a grey t-shirt, black   
jacket, black jeans, and grey tennis shoes. His black hair was cut short and was unruly, but in a way that did not do him any injustice to his personality or features. He remained the quiet one, but he was very observant   
and was not afraid to speak his thoughts when he thought them important.

Ashi integrated himself into the pack nicely. Kiba became the silent father, Toboe became his playmate, Hige was the goofy uncle, and, despite a proclamation that he would have nothing to do with raising the pup,   
Tsume became the stern, but dependable older brother. It was from Tsume and Kiba that Ashi learned about the laws of the wolves and Toboe and Hige taught Ashi how to interact with humans. Tsume attempted that   
same, but as he had interacted mostly with the kind of people that were not the every-day type, he was quickly shot down as a teacher for that subject. He was, however, able to teach everyone the basics of human   
schoolwork, such as reading and writing, as they quickly found out it was an oddity for a human not to know these things.

But Ashi had noticed he was not like the others in his pack. He was not even like the magical wolves. He had special powers that came in different forms that he could not control.

Once, after one of his first hunts, a boar had gouged his leg so badly that he could barely walk. Being too large by then to be carried by any member of the pack, Ashi was in danger of being left behind. The pack was   
traveling through a dangerous part of the world and even though they would do their best to protect Ashi, there were simply too few of them to hold off a large enemy for long. Their best option was usually to run, and   
since Ashi was hurt, he would become easy pickings for any predator that was hungry.

Ashi had worried about his predicament all through that night and finally fell into a fitful sleep. When he woke, however, his leg was completely healed. There wasn't even a scar. This would not have been as significant as   
it was if it weren't for the fact that there was no moon that night. There was nothing to help him heal so fast. This had happened before the wolves knew about the magical community of Earth and all of them were   
puzzled. They did not have time to think too hard about it though and the incident was soon forgotten.

Other similar episodes of accidental magic occurred every once in a while, and the pack was puzzled as to what was happening with their youngest member. It wasn't until they met a pack of magical wolves that managed   
to point them to a herd of centaurs that Ashi's unusualness was explained to them.

They wandered for quite a few years in their new world before they found other wolves like themselves that could take on a human disguise as their breed were an oddity everywhere they went. Normal humans would be   
terrified of them, the wizards would label them as vicious, bloodthirsty monsters, and normal wolves shunned them for being different. So, each pack created its own little community, secret from the rest of the world,   
incorporating both human and wolf lifestyles. 

Those packs managed to tell them why the human they had defeated on the night they found the cub was able to seemingly combine many weapons into one stick: magic. The Paradise pack had been tempted to scoff at   
the Earth wolves’ explanation, but considering they had experienced the weapon’s capabilities first hand, and that they had managed to travel between worlds, they had no choice but to believe them. 

The Earth wolves warned them of the dangers of associating with wizards, which was why most magical wolves tended to stay away from the magical community. But the Paradise wolves were not satisfied with just living   
their lives as normal wolves; they wanted Paradise. They had spent too long searching for it to give up now. 

Even though the Earth wolves lived among magicians and wizards, they all scoffed at the idea of Paradise, saying it was just a tale told to newborn cubs. The others knew differently and began to hope that this “magic”   
would help them reach Paradise, or at least return them to their own world where the Flower Maiden was.

After convincing the Earth wolves that they were determined to continue their search for Paradise, Kiba and his pack were pointed in the direction of a knowledgeable pack of centaurs. The centaurs were very friendly to   
the wolves as they understood the notion of being outcasts in all societies. They listened intently to the wolves’ tale of their journey to Paradise as well as Ashi’s abnormalities. 

After performing some “magic” of their own, the centaurs knew exactly what was wrong with Ashi. They told wolves about the Blood Adoption Ceremony and how it transferred the parents' genes to the child, magical   
genes as well. The centaurs also explained that they knew something about the Ceremony that wizards did not.

Because they had performed adoptions as well, they knew that if the child was of a different species than the parents, certain rules applied. If the parents died, the child's connection to them and their species gradually   
faded varyingly. If the child had been connected to them for a long while before the parents died, the change would be minimal. If the parents died soon after performing the adoption, the child would eventually only   
retain a few of the parents' qualities. Since Ashi’s adoptive parents were still alive, presumably, he retained all characteristics of his parents, which meant that his magic would continue to get stronger.

The pack protested against Ashi going to some strange school for wizards, but the centaurs graciously explained what would happen if Ashi didn't have the proper training to control his powers. This debate lasted many   
days, but the centaurs told them several stories about wizards who had not gone to school. Needless to say, the stories were gruesome enough that the centaurs finally won the argument. Before the pack had left their   
company to search for more information about Ashi's school, the centaurs had given them one last piece of advice: to not let anyone know what Ashi was. That he would be safest if everyone believed he was an ordinary   
human wizard.

The pack thanked the centaurs for all their help and began their search for Hogwarts. They did everything they could to find out about the wizarding community, but as the magical creatures tended to keep to themselves   
and the wizards had, over the years, perfected the art of hiding, the wolves knew almost nothing. Some centaurs were able to tell them about the general location of Hogwarts and about another herd in the forest by the   
school. But that herd held some of the more extravagant and proud centaurs who tended to think of themselves as nobler than other herds just because they birthed more philosophers and star-gazers than the average   
herd.

"What are we going to do? I thought you wanted to know where I was," said Ashi, trying not to sound worried as they left the most recent centaurs they had visited (and questioned) to begin their journey again.

"Hige's nose will be able to find you," said Kiba.

"Sure, Brat," grinned Hige, ruffling Ashi's hair. Ashi swatted the hand way. "My nose can follow you wherever you go."

"What if we go by one of those factories. One of the ones that makes you faint when you smell them. What are you going to do then?" asked Ashi, glaring at Hige.

"Well, then I hope you know how to survive on your own," teased Hige.

Ashi scowled at Hige but was relieved to hear that the pack wouldn't leave him. He had never been away from them and was very nervous about going to a school full of humans when the most interaction he had had with   
one was passing him on a street.


	8. Letters and the Leakey Cauldron

As the centaurs had had a few wizarding friends attend the school they suspected Ashi would be going to, they were able to tell the wolves how and when to expect a letter informing him of his acceptance. So, in the months leading up to Ashi’s eleventh year, they tended to stay in the same area, worrying the owl would have difficulty finding them. It finally came at the tail end of July while they were lounging in a small clearing in the western portion of a Chinese forest. A barn owl came winging down out of the clouds and landed a few paces in front of Ashi.

They stared at each other for a few minutes. The owl had obviously had quite the trip to reach him, judging by the state of its feathers. Finally, glaring suspiciously at Ashi, it hopped forward and stuck out its leg. A roll of parchment was tied to it and Ashi slowly transformed, careful not to startle the bird, to untie the message. 

Once the paper was gone, the owl hopped away again and stood patiently waiting for more instructions. 

Confident the bird would not fly away now, Toboe whispered, “Well? What does it say?”

Ashi unrolled the scroll and read:

Mr. H. Potter  
Pine Tree near Clearing  
Darkhan, Mongolia

"Wow," remarked Hige. "They're really exact aren't they."

Ashi nodded and said, "But who's Harry Potter? Is that me?"

They all looked at each other, puzzled, for a few seconds before Toboe piped up. 

“Oh, yeah! Don’t you remember? That’s that word that lady mumbled when we were leaving the house! She said ‘Harry.’ That must’ve been his name while he was with them.”

“And even if it’s not and he’s got a letter for some other kid, what’s the worst they could do? Kick him out?” asked Tsume.

Ashi acknowledged his point and tore open the seal. He was silent for a few moments, reading the first few lines, before reading it aloud.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore (Oder of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.

Sincerely, 

Minerva McGonagall 

Deputy Headmistress

There was a second piece of parchment attached to the first which Ashi saw had the needed school supplies. He handed both pieces of paper to Tsume when he held his hand out for them. 

“Looks like we’ll be going shopping,” he said, skimming his eyes over the page before handing them off to Kiba.

“Yeah,” said Ashi. “But where are we supposed to get the stuff?”

“Ask ‘em when you send your reply, Brat. Maybe they’ll give directions or something for all that.”

Having no other piece of paper, Ashi wrote his reply and the inquiries of where to shop and where he was to be dropped off for school on the back of his acceptance letter. The owl flew away as soon as the letter was  
attached. The pack watched it go, then went back to their naps.

They received a second letter a few days later declaring that a witch or wizard would be provided as a guide for them. They were to meet this person on August 20 at the Leaky Cauldron (an address was provided) in  
London. The next conundrum was figuring out how to pay for Ashi’s school supplies, but they decided they would bring that up with their guide. 

They spent the next two weeks making their way back to the UK where they would begin their adventures with the wizarding community.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“LILY!” shouted James, frantically looking everywhere in the house for his wife. Every room except the kitchen, that is. “LILY! LILY!”

“Yes, James?” she said calmly as he burst through the kitchen door, waving a piece of parchment. She paused in her cooking to wipe her hands on her apron and turn around, fixing him with a somewhat annoyed glare.

“I—he—we. Look!” said James, thrusting the parchment at Lily’s face, too excited to pronounce more than a syllable to explain anything to his wife. 

Lily calmly took the parchment, intending to read it excruciatingly slowly just to tease James. All pretense of games fell away, however, once she read past the first few sentences. 

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Potter,

It is my pleasure to inform you that young Harry’s name has remained pristine during these past years. Last week, we had the honor of sending your son his first Hogwarts letter. Although the owls returned several times  
without delivering the letter, we did not give up. Yesterday, the Hogwarts professors celebrated the notice of acceptance filled out by Mr. Harry Potter. He seems to be doing well but asks for someone to accompany him  
on his trip to buy his school supplies. As you are his parents, I feel it prudent to ask you first if you would like to provide your son with a warm, wizarding welcome. I regret to inform you that, as we feared he would leave  
the area the owl found him, and thus be unable to find him again for quite some time, before you would reply, that we have taken the liberty of assigning the day August 20 for his shopping trip. The guide is to meet him  
at the Leaky Cauldron promptly at 10 o’clock. Please reply as soon as you are able so that I may be assured of a welcoming party for Harry’s arrival. 

Sincerely,

Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore

Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Lily squealed in delight and hopped into James’s arms, wrapping her arms around his neck in pure joy as he twirled them around in circles. When he stopped, Lily planted a long kiss on his lips before jumping down and  
prancing around the kitchen island like a little school girl, babbling about the meals she would prepare, how they had to get a room ready for him, what she would wear. James watched her with the biggest grin he had  
ever worn on his face.

She stopped after a minute and faced James, smile slowly falling off her face. “James?” she asked cautiously. “What if he doesn’t like us?”

James’s grin fell away for a moment before it was back up and he replied, “Lily, why wouldn’t he like us?”

Lily leaned her arms on the counter and dropped her head on them as she thought of a reply. “I don’t know. Because we didn’t look hard enough for him when he disappeared?”

James walked over to her and hugged her back. “Honey, you know as well as I did that we never gave up searching for him. Ever. We may have hit a few snags with finding new spells to try, but we never truly gave up.”

“Yes. You and I know that, but will he?” asked Lily, turning around to face him. “Will he really, truly know much we looked for him?”

James sighed. “Either he will or he won’t. Nothing we’ll say will persuade him if he thinks we didn’t look for him.”

“You’re right, you’re right,” nodded Lily. “I should stop worrying about it.”

“Yeah, you should be worrying about where he’s going to stay before he goes to school and what we’re going to give him as a welcoming present.”

That set Lily on another tirade, running around the house picking up what few things were laying in places they shouldn’t have been. James took the next few days off to help her set up Harry’s old bedroom in  
anticipation of his stay as well as go shopping for a present. Neither one of them ever though of how Harry was going to get to London or who he would be with, only that their baby boy was coming home.

“Where the hell is this place?” growled Tsume as they passed the same coffee shop for the third time. 

“Well, the address they gave us is supposed to be right there—” Hige pointed to the alley between the coffee shop and a thrift store— “but it’s not.”

“Hold on a second,” said Ashi. “I think I see something.”

He took a step toward the alley, squinting and tilting his head a bit.

“See what?” asked Toboe.

“It’s a....it’s a door? It’s kind of shimmering like it’s supposed to be invisible. Hey! There’s the sign. This is it. It’s the Leakey Cauldron!”

“Oh, yeah. I see it too,” said Hige. “It’s kind of dingy.”

“You sure that’s the place?” asked Toboe. 

“Only one way to find out,” said Kiba as he stepped toward the alley.

Tsume still couldn’t see anything and he wouldn’t put it past his pack to trick him like this. Nonetheless, he followed them as they walked toward the “Leakey Cauldron.” Kiba reached out to grasp something and, all of a  
sudden, a building appeared in Tsume’s vision, replacing the dark alley that was there just moments before. He only just kept himself from crying out in surprise. 

Kiba finished turning the brass handle connected to the wooden door of the Leaky Cauldron and led the way inside. The air stunk of alcohol and sweat and the entire pack wrinkled their noses simultaneously in disgust.  
Hige actually pinched his nose. 

“Ugh. It reeks,” he complained. “Let’s find this guide and get out of here.”

They milled around for a bit, not sure who to talk to, until Tsume spotted the bartender as he came back to his bar after wiping down a few of the old tables. Tsume shoved few people aside until the rest got the message  
and awkwardly parted for the pack.

“’ow can I ‘elp yeh?” asked the bartender once Tsume got his attention.

“We’re supposed to meet someone here,” shouted Tsume over the din.

“Wot’s their name?”

“We don’t know,” put in Toboe.

“Well then, wot’s yer name?” asked the bartender, beginning to look a little miffed.

“I’m—“began Toboe, but Tsume shouldered him out of the way.

“Try Harry Potter,” he said.

The bartender’s mouth dropped open and the people in the immediate vicinity quieted, which in turn caused the people around them to quiet.

“Y-y-yer H-Harry P-Potter?” stammered the bartender.

“No,” said Tsume and pointed at Ashi. “He is.”

Ashi glared at Tsume and felt the urge to point at someone else and declare, “No, he is.” Before he could, the bartender leaned halfway over the bar to stare at Ashi. 

“Blimey! Yeh mus’ be ‘arry!” declared the bartender to the now-silent bar. “wot bein’ th’ spitn’ image o’ James wit Lily’s eyes. Welcome ‘ome, ‘arry.”

Immediately, the entire crowd in the bar surged toward Ashi, each proclaiming welcomes and cheering. The pack lifted their lips in growls, instinctually forming a circle around Ashi to protect him, when so many people  
came at them, but because they couldn’t attack anyone without revealing themselves, they were quickly pushed to the side. 

Ashi was turned every which way by handshakes and backslaps until he didn’t know which way the exit was. This went on for quite a while before he finally heard the bartender shout over the crowd.

“Wait jes’ a minute. Don’t yeh think we should let ‘is parents see ‘im?”

The crowd grumbled a bit before they pushed Ashi back toward the bartender, who had stood up on the bar top to make his proclamation. He hopped down and shook Ashi’s hand.

“Wouldn’t yeh like ter see yer parents now?”

“What?” asked Ashi, dazed by all the attention. The bartender didn’t even acknowledge Ashi’s confusion. 

“Say, where’d yer friends go?”

Just then, Tsume, followed by Kiba, shoved his way between two whispering and giggling teenage girls. Hige squeezed himself through the crowd opposite them and fell on his knees from the force of his push behind  
Hagrid.

"What is with these people?" gasped Hige, standing up.

Toboe poked his head between somebody’s legs and took a deep breath like he had been underwater before crawling the rest of the way through. 

“Geeze, Ashi. What did you do?" said Toboe breathlessly. "Become a superhero while we were sleeping and save the world?"

The bartender looked at them like they each had an extra ear sprouting from their mouths. 

“Yeh’ve never ‘eard th’ story of ‘arry Potter?” he asked incredulously. 

“Yeah, sure,” said Tsume testily. “He’s the kid that travels around with us.”

“No, no, no. He’s th’ kid ‘ho disappeared when You-Know-Who attacked ‘is family.”

“What,” stated Kiba blandly. 

“Come on, come on,” said the bartender, waving his hand for them to follow him down a small hallway next to the bar. “’is parents will be delighted to see ‘im. Ah’ll tell yeh on th’ way.

The pack looked at each other, then back at the murmuring crowd behind them who, miraculously hadn’t interrupted while they were talking. Ashi looked back at his friends then shrugged before following the bartender  
down the hall with the rest of the pack trailing behind him. 

“See,” began the bartender, “when yeh were jus’ a baby, ‘arry, You-Know-Who was still ‘round and—”

“Actually,” said Hige, “we don’t know.”

“Know what?” asked the bartender.

“Who was still around,” said Toboe.

The bartender stopped so suddenly, Ashi nearly ran into him, then turned around to stare at them again. “Yeh don’ know who You-Know-Who is?”

Ashi shook his head. “Who is he?”

“Why, ‘e’s th’ mos’ feared wizard there ever was! Terrorized England’s wizards for years.”

“Why?” asked Kiba.

The bartender shrugged. “’ho knows. Most say ‘e wanted power. Some say ‘e did it fer love.” 

“Did he have a name?” asked Hige. 

“Erm…yeah, but don’ make me say it. I don’ want ter say it,” said the bartender, then turned back around and continued down the hallway with his story. 

“Anyway, You-Know-Who attacked the Potters on Halloween night all those years ago. ‘e managed to defeat Mr. Potter and make it all th way upstairs ter th baby room where Mrs. Potter was tryin’ ter save yeh, ‘arry. ‘e  
was goin’ ter attack ‘er too, but four wolves showed up—” behind him, the pack all looked at each other with grins—“and killed ‘im, then took th baby. Th Aurors searched for them, but none o’ their spells worked and  
they lost th’ trail. We all thought yeh were dead till yeh showed up her’ today.” 

The bartender’s voice turned dreamy, “Imagine. ‘arry Potter showin’ up here. In my bar.” He stopped and turned back around. “Oh yeah, what happened ter yeh?”

“Found him in the woods when he was a baby. Probably a few days after that attack you were talking about,” said Tusme quickly, before anyone else could reply with something ludicrous. “He’s been traveling with us ever  
since.”

The bartender squinted suspiciously at them for a moment before replying cheerfully, “Well, Ah’m glad yeh took care of ‘im fer us. Ah’m Tom. If yeh ever need anythin’, jus’ ask.”

The pack nodded and followed Tom past a few more doors till he stopped again and knocked on it softly. A quiet “Come in,” came from inside and Tom opened the door. He stuck his head in and said, “Mr. and Mrs.  
Potter? Ah have someone here yeh might want ter see.” Tom stepped back and opened the door wider, gesturing for the pack to enter the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to explain how magic works on the wolves. Here goes:
> 
> 1\. Magical wolves/Paradies wolves have a sort of really high magical tolerance, a barrier if you will, that really, really, weakens spells around them. That's why they were able to heal so quickly (compared to just the moon's power) when Voldemort attacked them. Spells that affect their surroundings, however, have just as much affect on them. For instance, the spell that hides the Leakey Cauldron hides the building from anyone who is not consciously looking for it (and also deters Muggles). It took the wolves so long to find it because they were expecting an actual building to be in plain sight. It was only when Ashi was staring at the alley, looking for the Cauldron, that he actually saw it. And if someone casts a spell for fog, that would work perfectly on them, but a spell that hinders eyesight directly would not work so well. Their vision might get blurry for a bit, but otherwise nothing would happen. Neither the wizards, nor the wolves know about this tolerance. Yet.
> 
> 2\. There are wolves that can take on a human disguise on every planet (so yes, Ashi and Kiba/Hige/Tsume/Toboe are all the same species of wolf). On Earth, there are three types of wolves: normal wolves, magical wolves (Kiba and company), and werewolves. Wizards do not believe magical wolves exist; if they see one, they automatically lump them in with werewolves. Humans do so as well though sightings are extremely rare for both wizards and humans. 
> 
> 3\. Because Ashi is part wizard and part magical wolf, he is already special, but I hope to include an extra bit about how he is even more special. This will explain why Kiba and co. were called from their own world to assist Ashi and will also explain why the castle squid and forest occupants do some weird stuff where Ashi is concerned. 
> 
> 4\. Eventually, there will be another explanation as to why Ashi was left in the snow in a cemetery, but it probably won't show up until at least the end of this Sorcerer's Stone arc. This and the extra-special-Ashi part will be the same in both What If and Who Am I unless I can think of something else.


	9. Meeting the Potters

Kiba stepped through first, followed by Hige, Ashi, Toboe, and finally Tsume. The room was furnished much like a sitting room. A couch occupied one side and a few chairs and a small table faced it. A fire crackled warmly in the fireplace at the opposite end of the room. A couple was seated on the couch, wrapped in each other’s embrace as they read from a book, enjoying the fire. As soon as they saw who had entered the room, they scrambled to their feet, tripping over each other as they tried to be the first ones up as their guests stared awkwardly at them. 

Once they found their feet and were fidgeting nervously, Tom broke the silence by saying, “James Potter, Lily Potter, meet ‘arry Potter and his companions,” and abruptly left, nearly slamming the door in his haste to leave. Much as he would have liked to watch the Potters’ get reacquainted, he hated tense atmospheres; that’s why he ran a bar, one of the least tense and most lively businesses left in existence. 

The two groups stared at each other for a few seconds before Lily knelt down in front of Ashi so she was eye-level with him. 

“Hi, Harry. Remember me?” She looked back at her husband and titter with excitement before returning to Ashi. “I’m your mother.”

Ashi stared at her and nearly said, “No, you’re not,” for she and her husband were clearly not wolves and, as far as he knew, only wolves could produce wolf offspring; the few times there had been a wolf/human pair, the   
relationship had never lasted long enough to produce offspring. Then he remembered what the centaurs said about the Blood Adoption. Then his stomach heaved as another thought came to him. “Did these humans   
know his secret?”

This astounded and terrified him so much that he was left speechless after Lily’s declaration of parental association. The room was silent as Ashi’s thoughts spiraled out of control and he stared dumbly at Lily, clearly not   
seeing her. 

James apparently thought he would help along the conversation by saying, not so tactfully, “And I’m your Dad. Nice to meet you, sport.”

Ashi stared silently at them, not sure how to react. Despite hearing Tom’s story, he had never expected someone to claim him as their child, especially a human couple. Silence reigned in the room for half a minute, each   
party waiting for the other to say something, before Hige nervously spoke up.

“Well, now, it was great meeting you, but we’ve got somebody we’re supposed to meet here, so we’ll be seein’ you around.”

He turned quickly on his heel, intending to lead the way out of the awkward situation and back to the bar where there was lots of chatter. Lily stopped him just as he put his hand on the doorknob by saying, “Oh. I think   
we’re the ones you’re supposed to meet. You needed someone to help you get Harry’s school supplies, right?”

Hige visibly sagged, nearly touching his forehead to the door frame before he turned around with a smile on his face and said, “Great. Well, daylight’s burnin’. Shouldn’t we get a move on.”

“But—” started Toboe, no doubt wanting to get friendly with humans again. 

“Yeah,” interjected Tsume before Toboe could get very far. “We can catch up while we shop or whatever.”

“Great idea. I’ll lead the way,” said James rather stiffly. He stepped past his wife and son, dropping a hand on his son’s shoulder as he passed, not noticing the way the boy stiffened as he did so. He walked past the   
group and opened the door, stepping out into the hallway enough to watch the rest trickle out after him.

“Yes. Wonderful idea. Come on, Harry. We’re going to show you one of the wonders of the wizarding world: Diagon Alley,” said Lily. She stood up and reached out for Harry’s hand, but was rejected as he turned on his   
heel and interjected himself into the middle of group of boys he had arrived with. She mentally sighed. She had anticipated the cold shoulder, but she never realized how much she had wished he would simply accept   
them. So far, he hadn’t said one word to them. Not that they had given him very many chances. 

Once they were all out in the hallway and the door was shut, they stood around in silence for a few seconds before James said with a tight smile, “Let’s go this way so we won’t run into everybody at the bar,” and led the   
way down the hall in the opposite direction the pack had come from. They were silent again as they walked. 

Finally, Lily couldn’t stand it anymore. She had been hoping James would say something, but obviously he was too nervous to do anything. 

“So, Harry,” she said conversationally. “Where have you been all this time?”

Lily wasn’t quite sure how, but the others had managed to wiggle her into the middle of the group next to him. She could see him struggle with his answer, obviously uncomfortable around strangers and maybe people in   
general. If she had to guess, she would say he was terrible at making friends. This will be good for him she thought. If he can make friends with someone who really wants to know him, he’s one step closer to making   
friends with people who don’t care. 

“Around,” he said shortly. “And my name is Ashi.”

Lily wilted. He was much more gruff and mature than she had expected. Because he was still young, she expected him to be shy, especially around strangers, but he was acting more like he had grown up before he had   
had a childhood. 

“Okay,” she said. “Why Ashi? Don’t you like the name Harry?”

Ashi lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “That’s what I’ve been called my whole life.”

“Oh. Who chose it for you?”

Ashi gestured over his shoulder where two of the boys, the one with the black jacket and the one with the yellow hoodie, were walking behind them. “He did. Said it was traditional where he came from.”

Lily looked over her shoulder at the two boys, whose names she still didn’t know, but she would have to wait for the right opportunity to ask. The one with the hoodie smiled and waved sheepishly at her. 

“You chose his name?” she asked, not impolitely.

Hoodie shook his head. “Actually, he picked it,” he pointed to the boy next to him. “Wouldn’t trust the rest of us to pick a proper name for him.” He paused, raising a finger to his chin in remembrance. “But Tsume had   
some pretty good ones. None of them fit though. We liked Ashi best.”

She looked at Black-jacket, hoping she conveyed the sense that she was expecting him to elaborate or at least continue the conversation. 

“Had a brother named Ashi,” he said, just as shortly as Har…Ashi had. 

“Oh?” she asked, intrigued. “Where is he now?”

“Died.”

“Oh.”

There was another long silence as they passed a few more doors. Didn’t this hallway ever end? Lily gathered her courage again to ask Ashi another question.

“So-o-o…Where do you live, Har—eh—I mean Ashi?”

“Anywhere. Everywhere. Doesn’t matter.”

James sneaked a peek back at his family when he heard this. Lily could guess what he was feeling. He wasn’t quite sure if their son was being truthful in that they didn’t really have a place to call home, or if he was just   
being difficult.

“Well, where have you lived, then?” asked James.

Ashi balked. He hadn’t expected that question from anyone, so he hadn’t bothered to remember the names of the countries he had visited. He looked ahead of him at Tsume and Toboe for help. Toboe noticed Ashi’s   
almost-panicked expression out of the corner of his eye and smiled, folding his hands up behind his head in his trademark pose.

“Oh, man,” he said enthusiastically. “We’ve been all over. Let’s see.” He brought down his hands and began to count on his fingers. “We went to Russia a few times, and Mongolia, and China, even a few of the smaller   
countries that I can’t pronounce. Haven’t been to the Americas though. Can’t figure out a way to get there. We spent last summer in Turkey, and Hige wanted to see what a Russian winter was like—”

“I did not. You did,” protested Hige.

Toboe ignored him and continued on, “But Tsume shot him down because he had heard about the storms they get there. So we spent the fall in Iran and went through to Uz…Uzba…” he stopped at looked at Tsume.

“Uzbekistan,” corrected Tsume in his usual terse way.

“Yeah, there. That’s where we stopped for the winter. Then we went back to Mongolia for the summer cause Ashi likes the forests there and there aren’t a whole lotta people. Then we got the letter so we came back here.   
I’ve heard it’s cold in the winter here in England, but we’ll probably still stay cause Ashi’s going to and all.” 

Lily was a little overwhelmed. She had only met a few children who liked to talk as much as this one did. Except he wasn’t as young. He had to be at least 25 if not older, but he still rambled on like a little kid. She smiled,   
wishing that Ashi were a bit more talkative—maybe they could even each other out—before scolding herself for not accepting her son the way he was. 

“Oh, by the way,” the boy continued. “I’m Toboe, this is Tsume,” he pointed to the older man next to him who grunted in acknowledgement, “that’s Hige,” he gestured to Yellow-hoodie then to Black-jacket, “and that’s   
Kiba.”

“Well, “ said Lily cordially. “It’s nice to meet you all. Thank you for taking care of…Ashi. I take it then, since you chose a name for him, that you’ve known him quite a while.”

“Yeah,” said Toboe. “Since he was a baby.”

“Really? Do you happen to remember when exactly you found him? Or where?”

“Ummm.” Toboe looked first at Tsume, who ignored him, then back at Kiba.

“Fall,” he said. “Almost nine years ago. Forest in Southern England.”

“Really?” asked Lily. She was a little surprised even though she shouldn’t have been. After all, how long would a 1 ½ year-old baby survive by himself, especially with a wolf pack. Then again, Ashi was a wolf as well…Did   
that mean these boys were wolves too, maybe even the wolves that had taken Ashi? Or did the wolves abandon him and these boys just happened to find him. She decided to venture cautiously into that subject.

“Did he give you any trouble?” she asked. “Anything unusual?” She paused, waiting for a reaction. She got one. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Kiba and Hige glance at each other swiftly and in front of her, Tsume’s   
shoulders tensed. She continued quickly before they could suspect her. “Young wizards can’t control their magic yet so some of the oddest things can happen.”

“No, not really,” replied Hige. “Just the usual Ashi-weirdness.” He jumped forward to press his hand down on Ashi’s head, ruffling his hair playfully. 

Ashi shoved Hige’s arm away. “Hey!” he shouted. “Like I’m any weirder than any of you.”

Tsume laughed and started walking backwards so he could talk to Ashi directly. “Of course you are, Brat. You’ve got ma-a-agic,” he wiggled his fingers at Ashi teasingly, “and we don’t.”

Ashi grinned at him. “That just means I’ll know how to turn you into a frog and you won’t be able to do a thing about it.”

Tsume smirked and raised an eyebrow. “Me? I bet you’d turn the Runt into something first. He’s more annoying.”

“Hey!” protested Toboe. “I’m not that annoying. Hige’s the one that bugs Ashi all the time. And I’m not a runt anymore either.”

They all ignored Toboe’s proclamation of non-runtess. Lily began to wonder why Toboe was called the runt when he was just as tall as the rest of them and, in her opinion, more handsome than some.

“Why would he want to turn me into a toad. I wouldn’t be able to sniff out food for him then,” reasoned Hige. “He wouldn’t turn Kiba cause he’s got experience and Tsume’s the fighter. That just leaves you.”

Toboe pouted, but before he could say anything, Tsume leaned over and hooked his arm around Toboe’s neck, ruffling his hair. 

“Don’t worry, Runt,” he said as Toboe tried in vain to remove Tsume’s hands. “He would turn you into a frog either. You’re the entertainment.”

Toboe grunted as he finally shoved Tsume’s arms away. “Gee,” he sulked. “I’m glad you think so highly of me.”

Lily smiled as she watched the boys tease each other. Any worries that she had had about Ashi growing up with delinquents—it was hard to tell with the way Tsume dressed—disappeared. Just then, they rounded a corner   
and were faced with a wooden door. James pushed it open and gestured for the group to go through into the outdoor courtyard littered with empty boxes and trash. 

James closed the door behind them and gestured dramatically. “Welcome to Diagon’s Alley,” he declared.

All of them, even Lily, looked at him like he had sprouted a third ear where his nose should be. 

“This is one of the wonders of the wizarding word?” asked Ashi dubiously. 

James grinned at them, a little miffed that not even Lily had gotten his joke. “No,” he explained. “This is Diagon’s Alley, the alley that leads to Diagon Alley.”

They all stared blandly at him, unimpressed. James chuckled nervously then stepped past them to the back wall. He pulled out his wand and tapped the bricks. When he finished with the last one, he stepped back and   
waited for the magic. Slowly the bricks shifted, separating from and each other and revealing an archway. 

The area behind the arch was vaguely circular with shops lining either side of the walls. A huge building occupied the center of the area. Several wizards and witches bustled back and forth on the other side, stopping   
every once in a while to window-shop. Owls and papers folded into various animals flew and darted around, adding to the noise of the crowd. 

James stepped through the archway and gave a bow to the group with his arms stretched out to either side, showing off Diagon Alley. 

“This,” he said, trying to hide the smile on his face, “is Diagon Alley.”

Lily stepped forward, folding her hands on one of James’s shoulders as he stood up. “Thank you, James,” she said wryly before turning back to the boys. “Now. What do you say we get started? First stop is Gringott’s   
Bank.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's an explanation as to why Ashi is so mature for his age: Normal wolves have a very short life span, but Ashi and his pack are magical wolves, which means they can live for a very long time. Because of this, their puppyhood is also lengthened, but not by much. Magical puppyhood lasts between two and three years. Ashi was a lanky young adult when the pack took him, so he was well on his way. Because he had the pleasure of having Tsume and Kiba as his surrogate parents, he grew up quite fast; his puppyhood only lasted another six months after Voldemort's attack and he has continued to grow physically, mentally, and emotionally. 
> 
> Let me know if I need to clarify this more.


	10. Diagon Alley: Part 1

Tsume took a step forward. “Wait a minute,” he said. “Before we start wasting our time, you should know that we have no way to pay for Ashi’s schooling or supplies.” He crossed his arms, indicating by his stern look that   
he wasn’t interested in beating around the bush. “So unless there’s a way to remedy that, I think it’d be best if we just leave.”

Lily stared at him, a bit flabbergasted that he would think, after the couple had revealed themselves to be Ashi’s parents, that the boys would have to pay a single knut.

James, on the other hand, thought this was the perfect opportunity to play another joke. He raised one hand to his chin, supporting that elbow with his other hand in a thoughtful-looking gesture. He scowled a bit as he   
said, “Hmmm. That is a dilemma. Well, we do have contingencies for that. Assuming you have absolutely no money, that would require you to come to Hogwarts and help maintain its condition. You know,” he lowered his   
hands and started listing off the chores on his fingers, “cleaning, polishing—”

“James!” yelled Lily. “You know very well that we have enough funds for Har—Ashi’s schooling!” She paused for a moment, thinking. “I don’t think Hogwarts even employs those sorts of rules.”

James dropped his hands and threw his head back in a silent moan before facing his wife. “Aw, come one, Lily. It was just a joke. They can take a joke, can’t they?” He turned to the group. “Can’t you?”

The pack was actually completely ignoring the bickering couple. As soon as he figured out it was a joke, Toboe had started sniggering to himself before leaning toward Ashi. 

“Just imagine Tsume having to kneel on the floor, cleaning it,” he whispered, not so discreetly as the rest of the wolves had managed to hear. Ashi had to cough into his hand to hide the laugh, but Hige openly started   
snorting with laughter. Even Kiba was smiling. Tsume growled and wheeled around to face Toboe.

“You’d be the one scrubbing the floor,” he retorted, rather lamely. 

“What would you be cleaning?” teased Hige. “The girl’s toilet?” 

Tsume sneered. “That’ll be your job. I’ll be the one guarding the place because the rest of you don’t have an attention span that lasts longer than five minutes.”

“We do so,” countered Toboe. “I bet we could pay attention longer than you—hey! Look at that!” He pointed to something over Tsume’s shoulder. Tsume glared at them balefully with a look that clearly said ‘I rest my case.’

Kiba’s grin grew wider until he was showing his pearly whites. Ashi was standing off to the side, doubled over, having a “coughing fit,” while Hige threw his head back and outright started laughing. “Oh man, Runt. You   
really blew that one,” he said.

“No, really. Look,” emphasized Toboe, still pointing behind Tsume, toward the Potters.

Lily and James hadn’t caught on to the first joke, but they had heard enough of the conversation to under stand the attention span jibe. James had begun sniggering quietly behind his hand once Toboe had interrupted   
himself to point. Lily rolled her eyes at the boys’ antics, but turned to see what Toboe was so interested in. She smiled as soon as she saw who it was. 

“Hagrid!” she shouted, catching the half-giant’s attention as he was walking out Gringott’s Bank’s huge double doors. He looked up when he heard his name and grinned, waving to his friends. 

“Lily! James!” he called as he waded through the crowd toward them. “’Ow’ve yah been? Ah ‘aven’t seen yah all summer.”

“Hey, Hagrid,” said James. “Just peachy, thank you. How are you? What’re you doing here? I would have expected you to be preparing for the start of term at Hogwarts?”

Hagrid’s chest swelled with pride. “Dumbledore sent me tah pick up a package for ‘im at de Bank.” He leaned in closer and whispered loudly, “Very top secret. ‘ush, ‘ush.”

“Oh…well…isn’t that exciting, “said Lily unenthusiastically. 

James chuckled and patted Hagrid on the back. “Well, well. You, sir, are moving up in the world. They might even let you get that wand of yours fixed soon, eh?” He gestured vaguely to the tiny pink umbrella Hagrid was   
carrying. 

Hagrid grinned. “Ah hadn’t though ‘bout that. Think ah should mention it?”

James was genuinely aghast. “What’d you mean? Of course you should mention this. After all, Dumbledore trusted you enough to send you on a top-secret mission. He might send you on more, and if he does, you’ll need   
some protection.”

Hagrid straightened and lifted his head proudly. “Yer right. Ah should mention it. Can’t keep goin’ on top-secret missions if ah can’t protect anythin’.”

James patted Hagrid on the back again. “Good on ya, mate. Now, before you go, I’d like you to meet someone.” He turned slightly, gesturing to Ashi and his friends. “This is our son Harry, but he likes to be called Ashi.”

Hagrid blinked at Ashi bewilderedly. “Wha’?” he squeaked, turning to James. “Yeh mean yeh’ve really found ‘im? After all these years?”

James grinned proudly up at Hagrid. “Yup. And he’s here to stay.” He looked at the pack. “Right, boys?” 

Tsume crossed his arms and scowled. “Hmph,” he scoffed. “We’ll see.”

Hige stepped forward and threw his arm heavily around Tsume’s neck, nocking him off balance. “Aw, come one, Tsume. Lighten up. They can’t be that bad, can they?”

“We know exactly how bad they can be,” murmured Kiba. 

“But Kiba,” put in Toboe. “Not all humans are as bad as the nobles. Some of them are—ow!”

Tsume had stepped up and whacked Toboe on the back of his head. “Shut it, Runt,” he hissed. 

Toboe rubbed the back of his head. “What? What did I say?” He looked around at his pack and noticed out of the corner of his eye the Potters and Hagrid looking at him strangely. Toboe cringed as he realized the mistake   
he had made.

“Erm, right. Well, nice ter meet yah, ‘arry,” stammered Hagrid, lumbering forward and reaching out his hand for Ashi to shake.

Ashi instinctively took a step back from the eight-foot-tall man, but his retreat was halted when he bumped in to Hige. 

“Aaah…it’s Ashi, actually,” he said, shaking Hagrid’s hand. 

“Yeh look jes’ like yer dad. Ooh, but che got yer momma’s eyes.”

Ashi shifted his weight. “Umm. Yeah. Thanks…I guess.”

Hagrid squinted at him and bent down to stare at Ashi’s face. Ashi leaned back a few inches and glanced nervously at his pack out of the corner of his eye before shifting his gaze back to Hagrid. Hagrid reached out a   
hand as if to touch Ashi’s face.

“But wha’s this?” He asked, pointing to Ashi’s forehead. 

Ashi reached up to brush his hair over what he knew Hagrid was referring to: his scar. He was not ashamed of his scar per se, but it did draw lots of attention because of its size, shape, and placement. He loathed being   
the center of attention so he had developed the habit of covering his scar with his bangs. There was not much he could do about the white line of fur that his scar turned into when he was a wolf, but wolves tended not to   
question scars or odd markings on each other. 

“Nothing,” he said. “Just a scar.”

“Tha’s a pretty weird place to get one. ‘ow’d tha’ ‘appen?”

Ashi shrugged. “Don’t know. I’ve always had it.”

Lily and James exchanged glances. “He never had it when he was with us,” said Lily.

“He had it before we found him,” said Tsume shortly.

“Oh, well,” said James quickly, eager to continue with their tour. “What happened happened. Nothing we can do about it now. Come on, boys. The day’s a wastin’. Good seein’ ya, Hagrid.” He reached up to pat as high up   
on Hagrid’s back as he could, which was still lower than the shoulder blade. “Don’t forget to tell them about that protection you’ll need.”

“See ya, James,” replied Hagrid, returning the pat on the back. James stumbled forward a few steps with the force of the “pat.” “Nice ter meet ya, ‘arry. And yer friends.” Hagrid took a few steps away, then waved to the   
whole group before continuing through the archway the led to the Leakey Cauldron. 

“Right. Okay. Continuing on,” said James as he turned around and grabbed Lily’s hand. He strode past his wife toward Gringott’s again. She fell in to step beside him.

“James,” she said quietly. “Where do you think he got that scar?”

James was silent for a few seconds before he replied. “Lily, I’d like to say I don’t know, but I think both you and I know exactly where it came from. Or at least we have a pretty good idea.”

“He got it the night he attacked, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. That’s what I think too.”

“You don’t think it’ll hurt him, do you?” Lily was wringing her hands and rubbing her arms worriedly. “I mean, he must have gotten it from a spell. He had to have. No normal wound would leave a scar that big and not   
have had blood pouring down his face.”

“Yeah.”

“I think we should tell Dumbledore and have that scar examined.”

James looked at her in surprise. “Now, wait a minute, Lily. Aren’t you being just a little hasty? We just met the boy. And It doesn’t seem to be doing him any harm. Just look at him.”

They both stopped walking and turned around in time to catch the tail end of a jibe from Hige about how Ashi should start practicing his evil cackle, since he was going to be wearing a pointy hat and riding on a broom.   
Ashi promptly punched him in the arm and growled something under his breath. The other boys started laughing at the look on Hige’s face. 

“See? He’s fine.” James wrapped an arm around Lily’s shoulders and they continued walking. “And forcing him to undergo a magical examination probably won’t get him to like us any sooner.”

Lily sighed. “You’re right. You’re right. We should let him be.” She held up her index finger in emphasis. “But I want that scar looked at before he leaves for the summer next year.” 

James nodded then hopped up the few stairs in front of Gringotts and held the door for his wife, gesturing for the others to hurry up once she was through. 

The pack took their time climbing the staircase, taking in their surroundings. The huge bank was completely stone, as were the stairs leading up to the entrance, and nearly three stories tall although it was clear the   
building only had one floor; the rest of the space made up an extremely high ceiling. They walked through a set of doors that were nearly half as tall as the building itself and into a small entry way before they were faced   
with a second set of doors. A large engraving was etched into the glass.

Enter stranger, but take heed  
Of what awaits the sin of greed,  
For those who take, but do not earn,  
Must pay most dearly in their turn.  
So if you seek beneath our floors  
A treasure that was never yours,  
Thief, you have been warned, beware  
Of finding more than treasure there.

“What else will we find?” asked Ashi.

“Trouble,” answered Kiba. “They’ll have some form of protection for the treasure.”

“Oh, yeah,” said James as he pulled open the doors. “My job has let me go down there and check their security before. I’m not supposed to tell you exactly what spells, but some of them are pretty darn nasty. There’s a   
dragon down there too. Meanest creature I ever laid eyes on.”

“Does he have wings?” asked Toboe. “Or does he look like a snake?”

“He’s got wings. He’s supposed to use them to reach the higher levels if anyone unauthorized is up there.”

“Well, no wonder he’s so mean. If he’s got wings, he’s supposed to be out there,” Toboe pointed out the doors they just walked through, “in the sky. Free. The snakey ones are different. They love the underground and   
they’d probably guard this place out of their own free will if you fed them or gave them gold or something.”

James looked at Toboe and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. “How do you know so much about dragons?”

Toboe started. “Umm…”

“What else do you think we’d be doing while we traveled? Picking daisies?” interrupted Hige nonchalantly. 

“So you know all about dragons, but have never visited a magical village or become part of the magical community?” 

“We never said we never visited a village,” said Tsume, crossing his arms sullenly. “And Brat here’s the only one that’s got magic, so how well do you think we were received?”

They had reached a counter with a goblin by now, but they all continued their conversation while Lily handed over their key.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you go. You're all caught up with Who Am I on FF.net now, so you'll have to wait awhile for another update. Sorry. 
> 
> But HOLY COW! It hasn't even been an hour since I published the first chapter but I've already got 4 hits and 1 kudo?!!! You guys are awesome. I hope you'll stick with me to the end :)


	11. Diagon Alley: Part 2

 “Hnn. Good point. Well, anyway, we don’t have serpentine dragons. Only fliers. China or Japan might have serpents, but those countries are kind of…reclusive. The Prime Minister’s only ever been to China a few times, but never Japan. And he’s only allowed to bring one bodyguard. They won’t let them take pictures and if the Minister’s caught blabbering about what they’ve got over there, they threaten to have him assassinated, not that he ever gets to see much other than the inside of the palace. So I don’t think negotiating for one of their dragons would go over too well.”

“You do too have them here,” said Ashi. “You’re just not looking in the right places. China’s serpent dragons fly too, even without wings. But your serpent dragons live underground in tunnels and caves.”

James stared blatantly at Ashi. “You’ve been to China?!” he squeaked.

Ashi shifted nervously on his feet. China was one of the few places that didn’t discriminate against beings that weren’t human. Any being that was sentient enough to speak had a place in society. Vampires and werewolves roamed the streets freely (no one had to worry about getting their blood sucked because special cafés that would serve blood, animal or human—donated, of course—dotted the roads; during the full moon, special prisons were filled with those werewolves who couldn’t control themselves), while dragons and fairies filled the skies.

Because the Chinese had enough patience and determination, they had managed to teach dragons how to speak. Dragons were, of course, sentient enough to have one common language; they just never bothered to speak Human until a few Chinese decided to teach them. Now, dragons were used as a form of transportation or as bodyguards. Some dragons even took up trading and became merchants.

The pack had no doubt that the dragons here were just as smart, but the English wizards had never realized that. To them, anything that didn’t speak English or look or act human probably wasn’t smart enough to develop anything more sophisticated than a hunting-gathering group. If they ever found out about the non-human paradise that was China, they would declare that country barbaric or in need of reformation (because how sane could the Chinese be if they let vampires and werewolves roam free?) and declare war. China was very powerful and would be able to hold their own, and probably even win, in a war against England, but they preferred their peace.

“Well, yeah,” piped Hige, quickly coming up with a believable story to save Ashi. He swung an arm around Kiba’s shoulders. “Kiba, here, is part Chinese. Can’t you tell?”

“Uhh,” stammered James. He supposed Kiba sort of looked Chinese, but he had never really met a Chinese person before. Hige plowed on before James could come up with a non-rude-sounding reply.

“He’s got a birth certificate and everything. Heck, the guards even know him by name since he comes and goes so often. Since we’re his friends, they don’t bat an eyelash at us. They know he has good judgement, ya see.”

Kiba stepped on Hige’s foot before he could keep prattling and back them into a corner. Hige yelped and hopped away on one foot, holding the other and cursing at Kiba.

“That’s so cool,” said James. “Do you think you might be able to let us take a peek in there sometime? There are so many rumors about what it’s like in there and I’m just dying to know which ones I should believe. Is it true that the emperor’s attendants are vampires? And that they get to drink his blood as payment for keeping him safe?”

“Naw,” said Toboe. “His bodyguards aren’t vampires. They’re werewolves. The vampires are the shopkeepers and—Hey!”

Tsume interrupted Toboe by pushing down on his head rather hard and ruffling his hair. “You shouldn’t make jokes when someone asks you a serious question, _Toboe_ ,” he growled.

Toboe pushed the hand away roughly. “But I—” he started but stopped when he saw the look on Tsume’s face. He hung his head in a show of shame and mumbled, “Sorry.”

James quirked an eyebrow in confusion. “So they’re not vampires? Or werewolves?” he asked.

Kiba shook his head. “No. They’re human.” At least, a few of them were. In truth, the emperor’s bodyguard team consisted of skilled vampires and werewolves with a few humans thrown in to balance out the species mix.

Just then, Lily poked James in the arm. She had finished with the goblin at the counter and a second goblin who would take them to their vault had appeared, gesturing for them to follow him. So they did, down two long corridors and a flight of stairs. The goblin stopped beside what looked like an old railway cart that was just big enough to fit all of them. As it was, Ashi had to sit between Toboe and Tsume, the two thinnest wolves, in the back. James and Lily sat in the seat in front of them with Kiba and Hige sat up front with the goblin, whose name was Griphook. They insisted Hige sit with only Griphook, not out of politeness, but because they managed to tease him again about being the fattest of the group. In reality, Hige was only a bit chubbier than any of the others, but they never let him live down that extra layer of fat.

Griphook looked back at them to make sure they were all in before silently pulling a lever at his feet. They shot off into the dark. The echoes of a few girly screeches were left behind; only one of them was from Lily. They zoomed along the track so fast that Ashi barely had time to notice where they were going. Most of the tunnel was too dark for him to see anything—there were pairs of torches that                 accompanied each vault door that lined the tunnel and some natural sunlight trickled through a few windows here and there—but he did manage to make out a waterfall’s crashing waves as they passed a branching tunnel. A short time after that he saw a burst of flame and heard a piercing roar arching from a corridor on the ground; no doubt it was the dragon James had mentioned.

After a few minutes of having their necks jerked in one direction after the next, they finally came to a screeching halt.

“Here we are,” said Griphook, urging Hige to disembark by poking him violently in the side. Trying to get away from the poking, Hige practically fell out of the cart with a groan onto the stone ground. He didn’t bother to get up for a few minutes. Griphook stepped over Hige’s limp body as he made his way to the door that was set into the stone wall.

“Key,” Griphook said curtly. He held out his hand expectantly. Lily stumbled over from where she had fallen out of the cart and handed over the key. She bent over in an attempt to keep her breakfast down as the goblin opened their vault door.

James laughed breathlessly in the cart. “Well, that was quite the ride, wasn’t it?” he asked.

“You could say that again,” said Toboe. He was still in his seat, but Ashi was discretely trying to push him out of the cart so they could watch.

“I thought it was never going to end,” groaned Hige from the ground.

“Huh. Wimp,” said Tsume, but he was looking a little green. Even Kiba was winded.

Because they had been able to visit China, they frequently had the opportunity to ride dragons. As such, they were all quite used to flying high and fast, but that didn’t mean they had to like it. Hige was the worst of them; he had gotten sick on nearly all of their rides. Tsume and Kiba were little better. They had never thrown up, but they disliked flying all the same. Only Toboe and Ashi really liked flying, feeling the wind blowing through their hair, the sense of weightlessness and freedom.

A click resounded through the cavern quickly followed by the squeak of hinges as Griphook opened the door. Lily stood up, brushing a hand through her hair to straighten it. She cleared her throat.

“James,” she called. “Bring the bag, please.”

James laughed again and stepped out of the cart. He made his way over to the vault door where his wife and the goblin were waiting for him. He grinned down at Hige as he passed him. Feeling better, Hige sat up on his elbows to watch James pass before he scrambled to his feet. The other four followed a few yards behind James.

James stopped in the middle of the doorway and rubbed the money bag between his hands comically. “Now, let’s see what we have here,” he mumbled.

Lily rolled her eyes and snatched the bag from James. He froze as soon as the bag left his hands and stared as his wife stepped into the room and began gathering the money they would need to buy Ashi’s supplies.

“Well she’s in a mood today,” he muttered. He turned to grin at whoever had stepped up beside him. Ashi looked back at him with a blank stare. James chuckled nervously and clapped his hands together to disrupt the awkward silence; it didn’t work. Several of the boys slapped their hands over their ears as the clap rang out loudly through the tunnels, echoing back at various volumes. James winced at Ashi’s hiss of discomfort; he had gotten the worst of it because he was standing so close to the source.

“You know about wizarding money, Harry?” he asked. Ashi glared at him. “Erm, I mean Ashi?”

Ashi’s glare lessened but he was still pissed about the clap. “No,” he said.

“Well, I’ll show you then.” James placed a hand on Ashi’s back and pushed him toward the room. Ashi tensed at the unbidden touch and took a few steps forward to escape it. He peered into the dark room. The only light was coming from the torches on either side of the doorway so only the middle section of the room was light enough to see, but it was enough.

Great piles of gold, heaps of silver, and mounds of bronze coins littered the room. There were several of each, but they had not been mixed with each other. There were also a few heirlooms shining in the gloom. Ashi could make out some dishes, a shield and sword, as well as a few marble or steel statues. He was sure there must be more hiding in the corners, but it was too dark to see that far. Lily was just finishing up at one of the piles of bronze coins.

The rest of the pack poked their heads into the room to see what was in there. Hige whistled and Toboe complemented it with a, “No kidding,” as James began his explanation of wizarding currency.

“The gold ones are Galleons, those sliver ones are Sickles, and those are Knuts. There’s seventeen Sickles to a Galleon and twenty-nine Knuts to a Sickle. Most things don’t cost—or at least _shouldn’t_ cost—more than a few Knuts or a Sickle. Only the valuable things like wands and high-end brooms will make us use the Galleons.”

“You’ve certainly got enough of those in here,” commented Tsume. “Why are they all just sitting here collectin’ dust?”

Lily came up behind James and placed a hand on his shoulder, using the other one to coax the money bag back into James’s possession.

“We’ve never really had to use them. James makes a pretty penny as an auror, but we’ve never really needed anything that cost that much.”

“No vacations or anything?” asked Hige.

James shook his head. “My job requires me to be at the office nearly every day. It’s not as bad as it was when Voldemort was around, but it’s still pretty bad. A bunch of wackos will get it into their heads that since he had been able to cause such mass panic and become so powerful that they had a chance at fame too. What they don’t seem to get is that Voldemort was powerful because of hard work, not just talent. They think if they throw around enough curses, they’ll be able to take down the Ministry.”

There was silence for a few seconds. James cleared his throat.

“And Lily’s only free during the summers. She spent all that time looking for ways to find Ashi over there.” James gestured to Ashi, who was slightly behind them.

Ashi looked startled. “Me?” he asked, almost squeaked, really.

Lily turned her head toward him and looked at him softly. Oh, how she longed to wrap her little boy in her arms and never let go. But she could tell that he wasn’t the touchy-feely kind of person. She had noticed how he stiffened whenever James touched him.

“Yes, you. You’re our son who disappeared when you were only a year-and-a-half old. Of course, I’d look for you.”

Ashi shifted uncomfortably on his feet, not knowing how to respond to that. Another few seconds of silence passed before Griphook cleared his throat from his seat in the cart. He had obviously been waiting for them. He had been on his best behavior because there were wolves present. A rare breed of wolf that was hardly ever seen outside of their makeshift villages. Griphook didn’t care what kind of fools the humans made of themselves—and let’s face it, humans were quite foolish—but he did care what the wolves thought of the goblin race. That being said, he was also anxious to get back to work; he hated not having anything to do.

Everyone else had heard Griphook’s polite version of, “Let’s get a move on, people,” but didn’t feel like being the first person to do anything.

Finally, James said, “What do you say we get started on this shopping trip, huh?” He started walking back to the cart with Lily by his side. The wolves exchanged glances before following the couple and taking up their original seats.

“Hey, buddy,” said Hige to Griphook once he was in. “Do you think we could go a bit slower?”

Griphook looked torn between smiling evilly and looking forlorn. “Sorry, sir. One speed only.” Without any warning, he pulled the lever and the shot off into the darkness once again, this time leaving only one girly shriek behind.

* * *

When they had finished their ride and thanked Griphook, they finally began to explore the stores. They started at Madam Malkin’s Robes for All Occasions. They were halfway between the bank and the robe shop when James leaned over to whisper to Lily.

“Hey, Lily?” he asked.

“Hmm?”

“What do you say the others and I go take care of you-know-what?”

She looked at him confusedly for a moment before recognition lit up her face and she smiled. They stopped and turned around.

“Hey, boys,” said James. “How about we do something fun while Ashi and Lily get his robes.”

The wolves exchanged glances. Toboe shrugged and said, “Sure. Why not?”

Tsume looked at Kiba. “You gonna stay with them, then?’

Kiba nodded. Lily was about to object, but James poked his elbow into her ribs. She almost pouted when he effort to be alone with Ashi was shot down. She supposed that it was reasonable for them to not fully trust them yet—they had only met each other an hour ago—but she could wish.

“Alright. Let’s go,” said James. He led Tsume, Hige, and Toboe down the street as Lily, Ashi, and Kiba watched them leave.

“Come on, boys. Let’s get those robes,” said Lily once the others were far enough away. Kiba and Ashi nodded and followed Lily through the door of the shop. A bell dinged as the door opened. A rather large lady looked up from behind a counter. She smiled when she saw who the customer was.

“Lily Potter,” she said, smiling and walking around the counter to greet her friend.

“Hello, Madelyn,” said Lily, pulling the shop owner into a hug. “It’s good to see you.”

“Where’ve you been, girl? I haven’t seen you since that Christmas Ball last year.”

Lily chuckled sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry. I just haven’t needed any more new robes.”

Madame Malkin gave Lily a dubious look but Lily continued before her friend could dispute her excuse.

“There’s someone I’d like you to meet,” she said, turning to face Ashi and Kiba. “This is my son, Ashi.”

Madame Malkin gasped. “Oh, you mean this is him? He’s so big now.” She reached forward to examine Ashi. He tilted his head away and took a step back. Madame Malkin curled her fingers back into her hand awkwardly and laughed.

“Shy little guy, isn’t he?” She turned back to Lily. “But I thought his name was Harry.”

Lily nodded. “It was, but you know we lost him as a baby, so we can’t expect him to remember the name we gave him then.”

“I take it then that these will be your first robes,” said Madame Malkin, looking Ashi up and down as she scrutinized his distinctly Muggle clothes.

Lily nodded again. “Yeah, so pick out some nice ones for him.”

Madame Malkin glared at Lily. “Do I sell anything else?”

Lily smiled as her friend led Ashi to the back to be fitted.

“I’ve got another young man in here going to Hogwarts. Although I don’t think you’ll be in the same House. He’s the Malfoy boy after all,” she said to Ashi.

“House?” asked Ashi.

“You haven’t heard of Houses?” When Ashi shook his head, Madame Malkin continued. “Well, when you get to Hogwarts, you’ll be put into a House based on your traits. The loyal go to Hufflepuff, the brave are sorted into Gryffindor, the cunning into Slytherin, and the knowledgeable to Ravenclaw. Whichever House you’re sorted into, you stay in for the rest of your time there. You’ll study in your House’s common room, sleep in the dorm rooms, and make friends with your Housemates.”

“What happens if you have more than one of those traits?”

Madame Malkin thought for a moment. “I don’t rightly know. I suppose you’ll go to whichever House your strongest trait is. Now step up here and we’ll get you started.” She gestured to a small stool in the middle of the room. There was a pale blond boy on another stool right next to the first. Ashi stepped onto the stool and waited patiently while Madame Malkin draped a robe over his head and knelt down to start pinning it to proper length.

“Hello,” said the boy. “Hogwarts, too?”

“Yes,” said Ashi. It seemed like a dumb question to him. As far as he knew, there weren’t any other wizarding schools anywhere near here. Well, there might be a few children just buying some new robes, but he doubted there would be very many _not_ getting school robes while in a robe shop at this time of year. Unless he looked younger than he thought he did.

The boy next to him began to prattle. “My father’s next door buying my books and Mother’s up the street looking at wands,” said the boy in a bored, drawling voice. “Then I’m going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don’t see why first years can’t have their own. I think I’ll bully Father into getting me one and I’ll smuggle it in somehow.”

Ashi tended to try to think the best about new people, but his opinion of this boy was rapidly changing from “maybe he’s nice” to “he’s a spoiled brat.” He still had a bit of hope that the boy was only trying to show off.

“Have you got your own broom?” the boy went on, speaking so quickly that Ashi wasn’t able to get a word in edgewise.

“No,” said Ashi.

“Play Quidditch at all?”

“No,” said Ashi. He had watched Quidditch games before but hadn’t wanted to try it. Being a beater didn’t look like fun, neither did the chaser or keeper positions. He supposed he might like to be a seeker, though. The boy continued as Madame Malkin slipped off Ashi’s now-fitted robe and threw another one on.

“ _I_ do—Father says it’s a crime if I’m not picked to play for my House, and I must say, I agree. Know what House you’ll be in yet?”

“No,” said Ashi, quickly growing annoyed with this boy. Why should anyone care which house they were put in? They all sounded perfectly fine to him.

“Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I’ll be in Slytherin, all our family has been—imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I’d leave, wouldn’t you?”

“Well--” began Ashi, but was interrupted when the boy shouted, pointing toward the front of the shop.

“I say, look at that.”

Ashi turned to see what he was pointing at. He saw the rest of his pack nearing the door of the shop. The odd thing was that there were white feathers floating around them. There were several in their hair and Hige was picking one out of his mouth. James led the group with a huge smile, holding a cage with a white owl. The owl was screeching and flapping angrily, shedding feathers constantly.

“Oh, I know who that is,” continued the boy. “That’s Potter. A real joker he is. Father says the Ministry’s mad to let him be an Auror at all let alone the head of the department.”

“Why’s that?” asked Ashi. Draco raised an eyebrow at him.

“You mean you’ve never heard of James Potter?”

“No. I’m not from around here.”

“Ooh. A foreigner. Where from?”

“Everywhere.”

“Everywhere? What does that mean?”

“Sorry to interrupt your conversation, boys, but you’re all done, Ashi,” interrupted Madame Malkin. She slipped the robes off his head and he stepped down off the stool, a tad miffed that he didn’t get to learn more about James. As he waited for Madame Malkin to wrap his robes in a layer of brown paper, he heard the boy call out after him.

“Hey! When I see you at Hogwarts, I expect you to tell me what you meant when you said you live everywhere.”

Ashi ignored him. Who was he to “expect” Ashi to do anything. They had known each other for a grand total of five minutes. They didn’t even know each other’s names—well, the other boy probably knew Ashi’s since Madame Malkin had said it.

He followed Madame Malkin back to the entry room where Kiba and Lily waited. They too had noticed the rest of their group arrive, but because the others had an animal and couldn’t take it into the store, they hadn’t greeted each other.

“Here ya are, Lily,” said Madame Malkin, handing the package to Lily. Ashi walked past them to stand next to Kiba.

“Thank you, Madelyn. What do I owe you?” asked Lily as she tucked the package under her arm.

Madame Malkin glared at Lily dubiously. “Not a knut.”

Lily blinked a few times. “But Madelyn—”

“Up-bub-bub-up,” interrupted Madame Malkin, raising her index finger in emphasis. “No ‘but’s. There’s only two robes, so think of the first as a welcome-home gift to Ashi and the other as a congratulations-on-getting-your-son-back gift to you.”

Lily opened her mouth again but shut it when Madame Malkin glared at her again. She smiled. “Thank you, Madelyn.”

Madame Malkin smiled as well. “My pleasure, dear.”

Ashi stepped forward. “Thank you very much, ma’am. I appreciate the gesture.” He almost bowed but remember at the last second that that was not the right custom. He floundered for a few milliseconds trying to remember what to do and finally stuck his hand out stiffly. Madame Malkin and Lily smiled at each other again at Ashi’s formality before Madame Malkin placed her hand in his, giving it a small shake before patting it gently.

“You’re very welcome, young man. I hope you come back to see me soon.”

“We will. We’ll have to get him some dress robes for the Ministry’s Christmas Ball at least,” replied Lily.

Christmas Ball? What Christmas Ball? . . . What was a Christmas Ball? Ashi glanced up at Kiba, hoping he knew, but when the older wolf looked back at Ashi with the same confused gleam in his eye, Ashi realized they would probably have to ask someone. Unless Tsume or Hige knew. Toboe might as well, since he had had the most experience with humans.

Madame Malkin and Lily had continued their conversation, oblivious to the wolves’ ignorance. Madame Malkin had raised a hand to her chin in thought when Lily had mentioned the Ball.

“That’s right,” she said, tapping her index finger on the side of her mouth. “I’ll have to come with something extra special for you three, then. I assume you and James have the same measurements as last time?”

Lily nodded. “Probably. But we’ll come a bit early for fitting just the same.”

“Fabulous, dear. I’ll be expecting you. Now, you’d better get on. The day’s a-wastin’ and I’m sure you’ve got a lot of shopping still to do, seeing as you don’t have anything else with you. Off you pop.” She started flicking her hands at her customers in a shewing motion until they started walking to the door.

“You’re right. We should go. It was good to see you, Madelyn, and thanks again for the robes,” said Lily as she opened the shop door with the jingle of a bell.

Madame Malkin smiled and waved goodbye. Ash and Kiba waved back as they followed Lily to where the rest of their friends were waiting. Hige was still picking feathers out of his hair and from in his shirt, while Toboe poked at the bird, trying to pet it. Tsume stood off to the side and scowled with his arms crossed. James was holding the bird cage and laughing every once in a while, as if remembering something extremely funny.

When she reached them, Lily asked, “What happened here?”

James giggled again before answering. “The animals got a little skittish while we were picking out Ashi’s present.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

James shrugged. “Don’t know. They just went nuts as soon as we walked through the door. Got a pretty good price for it though.” He presented the bird cage to Ashi. “Here ya go, bud. Happy Birthday.”

Ashi squinted at both James and the bird. “Birthday?” he asked. “What’s that?”

Hige stuck his hands in his hoodie pocket and scowled. The menagerie fiasco had put him in a bad mood; for some reason, most of the animals had pegged _him_ as a threat and wouldn’t listen to a word he said as he tried to fend them off. Tsume and Toboe had gotten off pretty well, but they had been able to convince their attackers that they meant no harm.

“It’s a stupid tradition that humans celebrate every year on the day somebody was born. Helps them keep track of how old they are, I guess,” he said.

James gaped at them. “You mean you’ve never had a birthday party? Or presents or anything?”

“Why would I need to? Is it some kind of coming-of-age ceremony? We do one of those but I won’t get to participate until I’m 25,” replied Ashi.

“I guess you could call it that, but since we do it every year, it’s more like a celebration of life,” said Lily. “If you don’t mind, James and I would like to start celebrating your birthday with you.”

Ashi shifted uncomfortably. He simply didn’t know how to answer that. Sure, he liked these people, but he didn’t really feel like spending the rest of his life in one spot. Not after he had grown up traveling constantly.

“Uhm…” he said, trying to come up with a word that said ‘no’ in the way he wanted it to.

“Yeah,” interrupted James, “and here’s your first birthday present. Well, technically it’s your eleventh, but since this is your first birthday oomph—” He grunted when Lily elbowed him in the ribs to make him shut up. “Erm. You know what I mean,” he finished as he held the cage out again.

Ashi took the cage. The owl screeched and flapped its wings in protest when it was handed to a wolf. It few at the bars angrily and poked its head through to snap at Ashi’s fingers. James cringed and Lily glared at her husband.

“You couldn’t have picked a nicer owl,” she hissed in his ear.

“Sorry about that,” James said at a normal volume for Ashi’s sake. “That was the only one these bozos here,” he jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at Tsume, Toboe, and Hige, “would let me buy. Said something about it needing a certain personality. Guy at the menagerie said the previous owner gave it up because, even though it was trained, it never liked anybody and it never brought his letters on time. Sometimes tore them up too, so watch out for that.”

“We’ll be fine,” said Ashi. Already he was trying to convince the beautiful creature that he would never harm it, that it would always be protected, etc. It was no longer pecking at him or flapping its wings, but it still glared at him, hunching its shoulders in a sulking fashion.

_“You promise?”_ it asked silently.

_“Of course,”_ said Ashi incredulously. _“A wolf would never break his word.”_

_“Anything can break their word. It’s actually quite easy._ ”

_“Well, I won’t. Never have and I don’t plan to anytime in the future.”_

The owl glared at him some more. _“I’ll believe you when you prove it.”_

_“Fair enough._ ”

When he was finished negotiating with the owl, Ashi looked up. The rest of his pack was nodding approvingly—they had been able to hear the entire conversation—while James and Lily were looking at him in confused worry. No wonder. Ashi had been staring silently at the owl for a good thirty seconds, not moving or speaking. He hadn’t even blinked.

“Erm. . . You alright there, Ashi,” asked James.

“Of course,” said Ashi. “What do we have to get next?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK. I need some help. I've kind of backed myself into a corner: I don't have any idea of a villain for Ashi to face besides Voldemort. Actually, that's not true. I do have one idea, but with no one to bounce it off of, I don't know if it's good or not. Anyone interested in becoming a co-author or beta for this story?


	12. Diagon Alley: Part 3

_Previously on_ Who Am I

When he was finished negotiating with the owl, Ashi looked up. The rest of his pack was nodding approvingly—they had been able to hear the entire conversation—while James and Lily were looking at him in confused worry. No wonder. Ashi had been staring silently at the owl for a good thirty seconds, not moving or speaking. He hadn’t even blinked.

“Erm. . . You alright there, Ashi,” asked James.

“Of course,” said Ashi. “What do we have to get next?”

* * *

The rest of the afternoon went quite smoothly. They managed to get the rest of Ashi’s things with only a few hiccups. Lily had gotten distracted in the potions shop—she was the potions professor at Hogwarts and thoroughly enjoyed browsing ingredients, learning about new techniques, and chattering with other potions fanatics—and Ashi had spent quite a lot of time in the bookstore. They ended up buy far more potions ingredients and books than were on Ashi’s supply list.

One of the first items they had picked up was a trunk. Lily and the pack of wolves quite sensibly only wanted a trunk to store Ashi’s things in, but James spent the entire time they were in the store running around and pointing out increasingly extravagant components of different trunks. Eventually, they decided on one that had magically expanded interior—so large that Ashi could climb down into it if he wanted to—that included a separate wardrobe-type closet for him to hang delicate clothes in.

They decided that they would take turns lugging the trunk around as they collected the rest of Ashi’s supplies as none of them wanted to miss that action by babysitting their purchases in a boring corner while the rest of them got to explore. At least, they all agreed to take turns carrying the trunk, but it really fell to Tsume, Hige, and occasionally Kiba when one of the first two needed a break. The rest of their group were too busy running around ogling at all the magical merchandise.

They managed to finish their shopping much sooner than they thought they would, partly because there were so many of them. Several times they split up to divide the list between two groups, although each time, they only picked up one or two items before joining up again. That way both Lily and James got to spend equal amounts of time with Ashi. They never got to be alone with him, though, and that was quite irksome. They both realized that it was rather selfish of them to want Ashi’s friends to leave them alone—after all, what sane person would leave a child in the care of someone they had known for a few hours.

The sun was just starting to spread its evening rays on Diagon Alley when they consulted the list for the last time. Only one item left: the wand.

“Ooh, this is so exciting. You’re first wand,” squealed Lily as she led them down past all the shops to the end of the alley opposite that of the bank.

“First?” asked Ashi. “You mean I’ll have several?”

“Well,” explained James, “that’s not advisable. Most wizards keep one wand for their entire lives, but if you break it, you can get it replaced. I’ve heard that the second wand is never as good as the first, though.”

“You don’t use staffs?” asked Toboe.

“I’ve heard there are some wandmakers that can make staffs, but there are very few. If you see a wizard using a staff, they’re most likely just using a big stick that they have pre-charged with some kind of spell,” said James.

Toboe pouted. “But staffs seem so much cooler.”

James laughed. “They are cooler, but they’re also heavier, bulkier, and you can’t really carry them around in Muggle territory.”

“Yeah, Runt,” teased Hige, folding his hands above his head and closing his eyes lazily. “Don’t you think it’d be a little weird to see a bunch of people just waving around staffs on the street corner?”

“Well why can’t they just shrink them or something?” asked Toboe.

“They could but shrunken stuff has only a fraction of its power or usefulness. If they got into a fight, they would have to waste precious seconds enlarging their staff,” explained James.

“Alright, alright, I get it,” moaned Toboe. “Wands are more convenient that staffs. . . I still say they’re cooler, though.”

“You might change your mind when you see a wizards’ duel,” laughed James.

“Here we are, boys,” trilled Lily, stopping in front of an ancient wooden storefront. There was a single wand on a purple cushion in the window and the sign above the door was missing a few letters and was crooked but could still be read; Ollivander’s: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C.

“Would you like to come inside? It can get pretty nasty when he starts testing them out, so I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to stay outside,” continued Lily.

The wolves looked at each other. Despite himself, Ashi couldn’t help the trickle of fear the slid up his spine and bled into his eyes when she mentioned things getting nasty. His pack noticed.

Hige shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure. Why not? Let’s see what ‘nasty’ means to a wizard.”

“It can’t be much nastier that what we’ve seen,” added Kiba.

James and Lily exchanged worried glances. What did that mean?

“Alright, then. Come on,” said Lily with a strained smile, imagining all the horrid things that were possible in the world that Ashi might have already been privy to as she opened the door. A bell jingled somewhere in the back of the shop, signaling their arrival.

The only other sound was the tramping of their feet as they all trudged into the shop. There was a thick layer of dust on almost everything. The only exceptions were the rows of floor-to-ceiling shelves that filled all but the front part of the store. The shelves were placed so closely together that whoever wanted to go between them would have to be very skinny and have inch along sideways. Long, narrow boxes were stacked in neat rows on the shelves.

There was a single spindly chair next to the storefront window, but no one sat down. The wolves began milling about, looking at the boxes.

“Good evening,” came a silky voice from between two of the shelves directly behind Lily. She shrieked and jumped forward, clutching her chest.

“Goodness, Mr. Ollivander. Don’t scare me like that,” she panted.

An old man stepped from the shadows and grinned at them, folding his hands behind his back. “Ah, yes. Lily Potter. It seems like only yesterday you were in here buying your first wand. Ten and a quarter inches. Long, swishy; made of willow. Nice for charm work.”

Lily smiled. “Yes, that’s right. It still amazes me that you have such a good memory.”

Mr. Ollivander hmm’d and continued, turning to James. “And you. James Potter. Mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration, although I hear you’re using it against criminals now, hmm?”

“Yeah,” said James. “It’s doin’ a pretty good job of it too. I’m glad I chose it.” He cringed as he realized the mistake he made.

Mr. Ollivander shook his head exasperatedly, as if he had said what he was about to say a million times already; in reality, he probably had. “Tsk, tsk, Mr. Potter. It’s really—”

“Yes, yes, I know. It’s—”

“—the wand that chooses the wizard,” they said together.

Mr. Ollivander smiled. “Very good, Mr. Potter. Now, what can I do for you today?”

James gestured in Ashi’s direction. “Well, it’s—”

“Ah, yes,” interrupted Ollivander. “Harry Potter. Gave everyone quite the scare when you disappeared nine years ago. Where did you go for all that time, hmm?” He had pulled out a wand and had swished it a few times as he spoke. A tape measure appeared from behind the front counter and floated toward him. He grabbed it out of the air and took a few steps toward Ashi.

“Erm,” started Ashi, but it seemed it was a rhetorical question as Ollivander interrupted him.

“Which is your wand arm?” he asked.

Ashi stared at him, confused. “What?”

“Ah, which hand do you write with, Ashi?” clarified Lily.

Ashi held out his right arm. Ollivander immediately began his measurements, shoulder to finger, then wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round his head. Ollivander started to lecture on the quality of wands and which ones he thought would fit Ashi as he measured. Ashi was so busy trying to keep up with which limbs to hold out that he was rather surprised when he realized the tape measure was measuring the distance between his nostrils on its own and Ollivander had disappeared down one of the rows of shelves, still lecturing as he pulled down several of the boxes.

“That will do,” he said suddenly, and the tape measure crumpled to the floor. “Right then, Mr. potter. Try this one,” he continued and began handing Ashi wand after wand. Ashi gave each wand a wave and it either exploded or was snatched away form him and replaced with another. The pile of unsuitable wands continued to get higher and higher.

Tsume was getting more and more irritated by the second, as was Hige. Toboe was interested at first, but once the number of rejected wands climbed over 100, he started to wander around the store, looking for something to occupy his attention with. Kiba just seemed confused as to why it was so hard to find a wand. James and Lily, having been through this experience, just waited quietly. Mr. Ollivander, on the other hand, seemed to get more and more excited with each failed attempt.

They had nearly cleaned out one enormous shelf when Ollivander finally stopped and gave Ashi a long stare. “Tell me, lad,” he said, “would there be anything about you that one would consider unusual, would there?”

“I uh—“stammered Ashi.

“Well, he survived a direct attack from Voldemort,” said James. “I’d call that pretty unusual.”

“Yes, indeed,” muttered Ollivander as he eyed Ashi for a few more seconds before he handed him another wand. He snatched it away again before Ashi could do more than grasp it. The wandmaker made a noise in his throat before leaving his customer and walking to the back of his shop. Ashi over his shoulder at his friends, but they seemed just as clueless as he was.

After a few minutes, Ollivander came back with three more wand boxes. He opened the first and pulled out the wand.

“Here. Holly and Phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple.”

Ashi took it and gave it a wave. Nothing happened, but Ashi could smell a sweet scent enveloping the room. Ollivander took the wand away, placed it back in its box, and handed Ashi the next one.

“Oak and Thestral hair. Nine inches. Sturdy.”

Ashi waved it and the room became icy cold. Ashi shivered and Ollivander took away the wand. He handed Ashi the last wand as he said, “Ebony and werewolf hiar. Ten inches, springy.” Ashi tiredly took the wand and swished it. Green, red, and gold sparks spilled out of the wand tip and Ollivander clapped his hands once.

“Wonderful,” he said, “but very curious.”

“What’s curious?” asked Kiba.

“Well, it’s the first—and last—of its kind. My great-great-grandfather made it years ago, but it’s never chosen a wizard. Minister banned using anything from a werewolf or any other Dark creature after it lacerated three fingers off the last wizard that tried it. Minister declared werewolves to be too feral and savage for anything form them to be made into wands. Said it would affect the wand itself’s temperament. Well, that’ll be seven Galleons.”

James and Lily exchanged another look before they handed over the payment. They couldn’t say what exactly having this wand would mean for Ashi, but they were pretty sure it wasn’t good. Still, they managed to walk out of the store in companionable silence as Ashi inspected his new wand. The sun was well below the horizon now and Lily stifled a yawn.

“Well, boys. We’re all done. What do you say we get something to eat?” she asked.

Ashi looked up, slightly alarmed. Everything the humans ate was cooked and while that wasn’t necessarily bad for wolves, they tended to start regurgitating their meals if they ate too much. Ashi would have to start eating cooked food very frequently when he got to Hogwarts and he didn’t feel like starting his new diet plan so soon. Thankfully, Kiba saved him.

“No. We’ll take care of that ourselves,” he said.

Both James and Lily looked surprised. “What?” asked Lily. “Are you sure? It’ll be our treat.”

“No, thanks,” said Toboe, shaking his head. “You’ve already done a lot by buying Ashi’s school stuff for him.”

“But he’s our son,” interjected James. “It’s expected of us to pay for his schooling as well as his supplies.”

“But we’d still feel like we’re imposing if we let you buy us dinner,” added Hige.

Lily thought she could sense an underlying “ _He may be your son, but we raised him. We’d like a chance to prove we’re able to provide for him too”_ so she sighed, feigning reluctance. “Alright. If you insist.”

“What?” squeaked James. “But—” Lily elbowed him in the ribs and continued.

“What about a place to stay?”

Toboe folded his arms above his head as he answered, “Oh we’ve already taken care of that. We’ll be staying just outside of town.”

Lily quirked an eyebrow. “Really? Are you sure you don’t want to stay with us? It’s only a few days until the start of term.”

Tsume was getting tired of all the pleasantries. “Look,” he said, stopping himself from adding a rude ‘Lady.’ “It’s probably going to be a while before we get to see him again, so if you don’t mind, we’d like to spend what time we have left in comfort.”

James bristled. Who was he to imply that his and Lily’s house wasn’t comfortable, or that they weren’t pleasant company? And for all they knew, this would be that last time either of the Potter’s would see their son for just as long, so shouldn’t they get to spend some time with Ashi too? He was about to voice his objections, but Lily elbowed him again.

“Alright. You have a point. After all, I’ll get to see Ashi every day at Hogwarts and James often comes to see me on the weekends.”

“What do you mean ‘you’ll get to see me every day’? Are you a teacher or something?” asked Ashi.

Lily nodded, smiling. “Yup. I’m the Potions Master. Oh, and James is an Auror; he’s sort of like wizarding police.”

Ah. So Ashi had been right about Aurors. But didn’t they think that Lily being the Potions Master was information that he needed to know?! Ashi’s shoulders sagged in despair. He really didn’t want to deal with these humans _every_ day while he was at school. Granted, he wouldn’t see James quite as often, but still.

“That’s so cool,” chattered Toboe. “What kind of criminals do you have?”

“Mostly your typical crooks. Petty thieves, con artists, and the like. We get a few murders here and there, some accidental and some deliberate. Every once in a while we get a serial killer, but most witches and wizards aren’t quite so brutal. Except for Voldemort. He managed to get so many followers because half of them were scared he would kill them and the other half agreed with his philosophy and started copying his bad habits, such as killing people.” James paused and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Actually,” he continued, “I guess you could say we don’t have many wizarding serial killers because most witches and wizards are quite cowardly. There are wizard’s duels, but those are usually limited to minor injuries. There have been a few cases of illegal dueling clubs which fight to the death, though.”

James was trying to console the wolves concerning the safety of the wizarding world, but it was sort of backfiring. Granted, the regular, Muggle world was actually worse than what James was describing and Ashi was fully capable of taking on a regular human, but they had almost no idea what kind of things magic could do. They had never been the victims of a magical attack and, since they were shunned in magical villages because of their non-magicalness, that and the fact that they tended to isolate themselves, they had never even seen magic being used for anything other than to levitate something heavy.

“We also bring in people for minor offences, such as riding brooms in restricted areas or doing something magical in the presence of a Muggle,” continued James, looking very proud of himself and his coworkers.

“Yes, that’s very interesting,” drawled Tsume. They had finally reached the entrance to Diagon Alley and most of the wolves couldn’t wait to get away from the humans and stretch their legs. So, once they were through the Leakey Cauldron’s back door, Hige immediately began farewells.

“Well, it was nice to meet you and everything, but we really should be going,” he said, chuckling a bit and rubbing the back of his head to make it seem less hostile and tense.

“Are you sure we can’t buy you something to eat?” asked Lily.

“And the offer of a place to stay still stands,” added James.

Kiba shook his head. “No. We’ll be fine.”

“Alright,” conceded Lily. “But let us take care of Har—Ashi’s trunk at least. That way you don’t have to worry about lugging it with you everywhere.”

Hige and Toboe, who were carrying the trunk, looked back at Tsume and Kiba hopefully. Even though a Feather-light spell had been cast on it, the trunk was incredibly awkward to carry. Plus, if they didn’t let James and Lily take care of it, they would have to find somewhere suitable to store it for the week left before the start of term.

Tsume scoffed and turned on his heel, sticking one hand in his pocket and waving the other over his shoulder in a dismissing gesture as he walked over to the front door to wait. “I don’t care,” he growled as Kiba nodded his head in approval. “Do whatever you want.”

“Yes~” hissed Toboe, pumping his fist. “Thank you,” he said turning to the Potters and rather eagerly handing over his half of the trunk to Lily. Hige held out his handle to James, nodding his thanks.  

“What about the owl?” asked James. “Do you want us to take care of her too?”

All eyes turned to Ashi and he shifted his weight as he thought. He shook his head. “No. It’ll give her time to get used to us,” he said.

James and Lily smiled, happy that their son wasn’t the type of boy to shuffle off responsibility to someone else.

“Alright, then. I suppose we’ll see you at King’s Cross Station on September 1st,” said Lily. “The train leaves at eleven so if you want a good seat, get there early.”

“We’ll make sure to be at the front door to show you the way to the train,” added James.

“Alright,” said Kiba. “Thank you.”

The couple nodded and waved as the pack of wolves slipped out the door.

“Well,” sighed Lily contentedly once they were gone. She took a few steps to the nearest table and sat down heavily on a chair. “That was quite a day.”

James joined her. “No kidding,” he said. “What did you think of them.”

“I don’t know,” shrugged Lily. “They seem like an odd bunch, but they did a pretty good job of raising Ashi.” She laughed at little. “I think it’ll be a long time before I will be able to say that name without first thinking about it to make sure I’m saying the right one.”

James grinned. “Me too. Kind of an odd one, isn’t it?”

“I suppose,” hummed Lily. “It’s Japanese for paw.”

James quirked an eyebrow at her. “Since when do you know Japanese?”

“I managed to do a little research in Florrets and Blotts while he was perusing the shelves.”

James laughed. “Speaking of, I think he’s got your penchant for books and studying. I thought we’d never leave that bookstore.”

“Well, it’s a good thing he does because his mother is going to be hovering over him if he doesn’t get good grades.”

“Oh, come on, Lily. You know there’s more to Hogwarts than grades.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean they’re not important.” Lily peeked at James out of the corner of her eye. The look he was giving her clearly told her he was still waiting. “Oh, alright. I’ll only bug him if he needs to be.”

James took her hand and leaned in for a kiss. “That’s my girl,” he whispered on her lips as he pulled away. Lily smiled as she rested her forehead tiredly against his for a moment.

“He’s back, James. We’ve finally got him back.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that. Hope you like it.
> 
> Don't have very much to say this time. I'd like to mention something that was brought up in a comment by one of my readers over on FF.net, though. s/he was worried that Ashi would conform to being human/get used to being around Lily and James too quickly. If that's the sort of happy ending you're looking for, this isn't the story for you. Sure, it'll have a happy ending, but Ashi will not necessarily find it with the Potters. I haven't gotten their relationship set in stone yet (or Word document :P), but it will be very shaky and will take a loooong time to perfect. I'm expecting their relationship to be pretty much the same by the end of this Sorcerer's Stone arc, so it's going to be slow.
> 
> Anyway, don't forget to review!
> 
> Love y'all!


	13. A Wolf Hunt and Platform 9 3/4

_Previously on_ Who Am I

_James took her hand and leaned in for a kiss. That's my girl," he whispered on her lips as he pulled away. Lily smiled as she rested her forehead tiredly against his for a moment._

_"He's back, James. We've finally got him back."_

* * *

The pack of wolves walked through London in silence, enjoying each other's company. Finally, after he had stared at Ashi's owl for three blocks—she refused to talk—Toboe asked," "Hey, Ashi, what're you going to name your owl?"

Ashi looked at the owl. She had her head under its wing but still had a vigilant eye peeking through the feathers at them. "I don't know," he said after thinking a bit. "Any suggestions?"

"Akira," said Hige.

"It's a girl, you dimwit," scoffed Tsume.

"Sakura, then," answered Hige.

"She doesn't seem like a pretty flower to me," said Tsume as he glanced at the little demon in an owl's body. She glared back at him.

"Well, I don't hear you suggesting anything," drawled Hige.

"How about Hikari **(light)**?" interrupted Toboe before the argument could escalate.

The group continued down the street, each trying to think of a name for Ashi's new owl. Tsume and Hige began to rattle off names as if competing with each other and Toboe and Kiba interjected every once in awhile with their own suggestions.

"Shiro **(white)** ," said Hige.

"Yuki **(snow)** ," countered Tsume.

"Akemi **(bright beauty)** ," said Kiba.

"I like that one," said Ashi, staring up at the sky while he thought.

"Tsubasa **(wing)** ," suggested Toboe.

"Too long," said Hige. "Kaze **(wind)**."

"Ami **(beauty)** ," said Tsume.

"What about Sora **(sky)**?" asked Kiba.

"That one," said Ashi suddenly, cutting off Tsume before he could give another name. He peered at the owl. " _What do you think?"_ he asked.

She ruffled her feathers as she peered back at him. She thought about it for a moment. _"It'll do_ ," she replied.

_"_ _Do you have a name you prefer?"_ he asked again. _"What did your parents call you?"_

Her head disappeared under her wing before she replied. " _I don't remember my parents so it really doesn't matter._ "

Ashi blanched and looked to Kiba for guidance. Kiba simply tilted his head and blinked. His message was clear: Ashi was on his own. He had started it, he had to finish it.

Ashi looked back to Sora. She still had her head under her wing. _"I apologize, Sora. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."_

Sora didn't say anything for a moment, then whispered, " _It's alright. It doesn't matter anymore."_

The group continued down the busy street in silence. Three miles later, the traffic died down and trees began to edge the road. Soon enough, several dirt roads led into the small forest. When they were certain no one was around, they trudged through the roadside bushes.

_"_ _Sora,"_ said Ashi once the road was out of sight, _"We're going to_ _be staying here in the forest until I go to school. Will you stay with us?"_

Sora lifted her head out of its hiding spot. _"What?"_ she asked. " _What do you mean?"_

Ashi fidgeted. There was no other way for him to word this that didn't sound utterly _wrong_. " _I'm going to let you out of the cage. We'll leave it here. Will you stay with me? Please?"_

Sora's eyes widened in shock. " _You mean I'm free?"_

Ashi tilted his head in acquiescence. " _If you want, but I would rather you stay with us."_

Toboe nodded. " _It's your choice to stay or go, but will you at least give us a chance? Just stay for a few days, then after that you can decide."_

" _At least with us you'll have protection,"_ snorted Tsume.

" _But you'll still have to find your own food,"_ added Hige.

" _You won't come after me if I leave?"_ she asked, rather shocked at the suggestion.

Ashi shook his head. He fingered the latch on her cage. He didn't want her to go; he was really starting to like her, to look forward to the challenge of getting her to open up. The first step would be to get her to trust him and the quickest way for that to happen would be to trust her, to trust her not to leave if he let her out. He opened the cage door.

Sora hopped off her perch and stood before the door. She peered up at the wolves suspiciously. Everyone was still for a few moments while she made her decision.

Finally, Tsume was fed up. " _Go ahead and take all the time you'd like,"_ he said sarcastically. _"It's not like we still have to find food and shelter."_

Sora ruffled her feather and puffed out her chest. " _I shall stay,"_ she said proudly and hopped from the cage to Ashi's arm. He smiled at her and set the cage down. Once it was hidden, the odd little family set out to find themselves a home.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore kneeled before the fire in his office at Hogwarts. He gripped a handful of fine green powder tightly before he threw it into the fire. The flames roared up and took on the color of the powder.

"James Potter," he said, clearly and loudly. The fire died down and Albus leaned his face into the flames. The green fluctuated around his eyes in a little light show while he waited for the Potters to answer his call. Soon enough the green was replaced by a cozy living room and the smiling faces of James and Lily Potter.

"James, my boy," greeted Dumbeldore. "How are you? Did you meet Harry?"

"Yes, we did, Professor," replied James. "We spent a wonderful afternoon with him."

"Good. I'm glad. How is he?"

"Oh, he looked very well, Professor," answered Lily. "He was healthy and strong, very polite. He looks just like James."

"Good, good. Is he here? Did he come home?"

James shook his head. "No. He wanted to stay with his guardians a while longer. We figured that would be alright since Lily will be with him at Hogwarts and I can visit them on the weekends. We didn't want to rush him into such a new situation too quickly."

"That…makes sense," mused Dumbledore. "What were his guardians like?"

Lily made a face. "Well, they've done a good job of raising him, I think, but they could improve their clothing choices. One of them looked like a hobo and another looked like he was part of a gang."

"I thought they were alright," said James. "I took them to get Harry's owl and we had a lot of fun."

"Oh, that's another thing, Professor," interject Lily. "He isn't called 'Harry.' His name is Ashi."

"Ashi?" asked Dumbledore. "What a peculiar name. Japanese, is it?"

Lily nodded. "It means 'paw' or 'leg' in Japanese. It does seem like an odd name but I'm not familiar with Japanese customs so it could be a very normal name for them."

"Did they look Japanese?" asked Dumbledore.

James's mouth twisted in a thoughtful manner. "Sort of?" he said uncertainly. "They looked more European than Asian, but I've never been good at naming ethnicities. That one guy, though…they said he was from China, part Chinese."

"Well," mused Dumbledore, rather surprised. "They traveled all the way from China?"

"I guess so," said Lily. "They said they do a lot of traveling, though, so I don't think it was much of an inconvenience for them. There was one thing that struck me as odd: they didn't ask us anything about Hogwarts. They didn't seem too worried about sending Ashi off to a strange school in a strange country with strange people."

"Maybe they just learned about Hogwarts somewhere else," suggested James.

"Maybe," said Lily.

"Did they mention how they found him?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes," answered Lily. "They said they found him in the woods."

"Did they know anything about the wolves?"

"No. They didn't mention them, but we didn't ask about them either."

"Hmm. Very well. He sounds like a delightful boy. I look forward to meeting him at the start of the term."

"Professor? Do you mind if I arrive at Hogwarts with the students? So I can spend some more time with Ashi?" asked Lily.

"Of course, my dear," smiled Dumbledore.

"Oh, thank you!"

"Yes, of course. I shall see you on the first of September. Now I should let you two get some rest. It sounds like you've had quite the day."

"Thank you, Professor," said James. "For everything. We wouldn't have found him without you."

"You're welcome, my boy. Good night."

"Good night, Professor," chorused the couple.

Dumbledore pulled his head out of the fire. Once he couldn't see the Potters anymore, he allowed a small frown to crawl onto his face. It was to be expected that the Potter boy wouldn't conform immediately to the Headmaster's plans, but it would have made things infinitely easier. Oh, well. At least the wizarding world's savior had returned. Now he could only hope Voldemort would wait another few years before he attempted to rise again.

* * *

The day before Ashi was due to leave for Hogwarts, the pack was scattered among some trees napping after their most recent hunt to digest their meal before they began the long trek back to their cave. Sora was hunting for her own dinner and would soon be returning. In order to keep an eye out for her, Ashi had volunteered to watch.

Ashi watched Sora as she came winging down through the trees and landed gracefully in front of him. She proudly held up a freshly caught mouse in one of her claws and began tearing at it with her beak. Ashi watched her solemnly for a few minutes before turning his head and searching the forest for any intruders.

Once Sora was finished with her meal, she flapped her wings a few times and flew to Ashi's back to rest there. She tucked her head under her wing for her own nap, content in the knowledge that Ashi and the rest of the pack would protect her.

Ashi laid his head down between his paws and was about to close his eyes when he heard the sharp "snap" of a twig just beyond their line of sight. Ashi's head shot upright and his eyes slowly scanned their surroundings. Tsume had also been awakened by the sound and he raised his head slowly. Ashi stood up, jostling Sora who hooted in agitation. Sora's claws clung tightly to his fur as Ashi began to walk slowly around their group, sniffing for any unfamiliar scents, but the twig snap had been downwind so Ashi didn't think he would smell anything. He slinked into the woods, hoping to circle around behind whatever was watching them.

Ashi saw Tsume get up and lazily stretched, doing his best to give off the impression of ignorance. He trotted into the woods in the opposite direction of Ashi, growling softly to wake the others as he passed by. Kiba, Hige, and Toboe didn't give any indication that they noticed the activity, although Ashi knew all three were ready to leap into action at any second.

Ashi continued to silently sneak through the trees. Sora swayed back and forth on his back maintaining her tight grip on his fur. As Ashi approached a spot near where the twig had snapped, staying hidden in the bushes. He began to smell a strange odor: the scent of humans and gunpowder dampened by the native flora.

Hunters.

But the scent wasn't concentrated by the twig, it was behind some more bushes a few yards away. Ashi stalked deeper into the forest. He circled around until he was a few feet behind where he thought the hunter was squatting. He took a deep breath to calm his fluttering stomach. In all his years running around as a wolf, he had never actually encountered a hunter; the pack took great care to stay away from humans in the forests. Once he was ready, he began a deep guttural growl, alerting the human to his presence.

The hunter didn't move, rifle still propped on his shoulder aimed at the place the twig had snapped. Ashi took a step forward, still growling, and deliberately snapped a twig under his paw. Slowly, the rifle was lowered from the man's shoulder and he twisted his torso to look behind him. He was fairly young although his features were distorted by the camouflage paint smeared on his face. Ashi raised his hackles and, sensing his intent to intimidate, Sora puffed up her feathers to appear larger and hooted angrily at the man who had disturbed her nap.

The man slowly got to his feet, never taking his fear-filled eyes off Ashi and Sora. One hand gripped the rifle tightly, although it was now pointed at the ground. The hunter raised his second hand in a "stop" gesture and said "Easy, boy. Take it easy."

Ashi almost snorted in derision. He was not some common dog to be ordered around. He took another step closer, increasing the volume of his growls and opening his jaw a few inches to reveal his full set of teeth dripping with sticky saliva. Ashi tensed his muscles and suddenly sprang at the man, knocking him onto his back, and grabbed the rifle firmly between his jaws as the hunter held the butt of the rifle in one hand and the muzzle in the other, attempting to keep Ashi's sharp teeth away from his face.

Sora launched herself into the air as Ashi jumped and hovered over them, hooting anxiously, trying to involve herself, but finding no opportunity. Ashi jerked his head side to side trying to wrench the rifle from the man but was unsuccessful. In fact, the hunter managed to shove the gun deeper into Ashi's mouth and push him back a few inches. Ashi choked on the hardware attempting to travel down his throat and reared his head back to try again when he heard the discharge of a second gun.

Pain exploded in his shoulder and he was knocked to the side as a bullet hit him at a ninety-degree angle. Sora launched herself at the new threat and began clawing at the second hunter's face, screeching loudly. Tsume charged out of the woods at the older man and jumped to wrap his teeth around one of the arms holding the gun. The hunter batted at Sora with the barrel of the gun and the motion left Tsume's jaws clamping shut with an audible snap on nothing but air.

"Run, Jack!" shouted the second hunter as he kicked at Tsume and began running himself.

The first man, Jack, scrambled to his feet and took off into the forest, gun in hand, away from the angry pack of wolves, with the second man hot on his heels. The rest of the pack had leapt up at the sound of the rifle round and Kiba, Toboe, and Tsume charged into the brush after the humans to chase them out of the wolves' temporary territory while Hige and Sora attended to Ashi.

Ashi lay on the ground stunned for a few seconds, shoulder throbbing and oozing blood, before he attempted to get up. His leg gave out as soon as he put pressure on it, but he managed to roll from his side to his stomach with his feet tucked under him. Sora circled above his head before landing on the ground near his head.

" _Ashi,_ " she said gently. " _Are you alright?"_

" _No,"_ growled Ashi painfully. " _It…Gah! I've never had an injury that hurt so bad_."

" _Well, that's what happens when you go off and attack a human like that,_ " commented Hige as he knelt by Ashi's side to examine the wound. " _There's never just_ one _of them, so what you did was pretty stupid_."

" _It's not like…we had time…to do anything else,_ " retorted Ashi. " _If we had run they would have shot us anyway. It would have been fine if the second one hadn't been there_."

Hige's hands pressed gently around the hole in Ashi's shoulder and Ashi' couldn't help but whimper, then growl, at the sudden burst of pain.

"He got you pretty good, Ashi," said Hige. "This might have shattered your joint if it were just a hair lower."

Ashi huffed, clenching his teeth against the pain. Hige reached over Ashi's back and felt around his other shoulder.

"Doesn't look like there's an exit wound," said Hige.

" _Oh?"_ panted Ashi. " _What does that mean?"_

"It means I have to pull the bullet out." Hige shrugged. "This is going to hurt, but we'd better do it now before the lead gets into your bloodstream."

" _Fine. Do it_." Ashi gritted his teeth.

"Okaay. 1. . 2. ."

Ashi let out a long howl as Hige plunged his claws into the wound.

* * *

Jack and his father ran through the woods as fast as they could, panting hard. Jack could hear the wolves' paws thudding against the ground behind them and he pumped his legs even faster.

Why did he have to agree with his father to come hunting today? Grace had only just had the baby and he wanted to spend time with them. But no-o-o. Dad said "You'll have twenty years to spend time with them, but I haven't seen you at all this year. Let's go have some fun together. Who knows when you'll be back."

Jack had only been hunting two other times, but both times he had caught a fairly good-sized bull elk. He didn't particularly like to hunt, but his previous successes made his father even more excited to go. But when they had spotted wolf tracks, they just _had_ to go see where they were. Then, his father suggested they should have a wolf pelt to wrap the baby in when they got home. James, being the shy, semi-confident guy he was, could not argue against his father, being the stubborn, loud, over-confident guy _he_ was.

His father, Harold, had reasoned that because the wolves had just eaten (they had discovered the fresh carcass of a deer not far from the pack), they would be sleepy and slow, so this was the best time to hunt them. They wouldn't be able to take on, let alone take home, all five wolves, so they had set a trap for one. They had snapped a twig and waited in some bushes a few yards away. When the wolf came to investigate, Jack would have plenty of time to aim and fire. What they didn't count on was the wolf being so smart.

Neither man had expected the wolf to appear behind Jack, so Jack had done the only thing his scared, cluttered mind had thought of: he treated it like a dog. Now that he thought about it, that was a stupid idea. Like the wolf would have been around humans enough to have learned any commands. Now they were running for their lives through the dense forest with no idea where they were.

One of the wolves snapped at his heels and Jack begged his tired muscles to go faster. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the brown wolf leap up and snap at his father's elbow, but miss, and Harold retaliated with a swing of his rifle at the wolf's head. Jack felt a rush of air and a tug on his own leg. He stumbled and fell. In terror, he looked back to see where the wolves were. The white one had torn off Jack's pant leg and had stopped, trying to get the side zipper off the hairs of its sensitive muzzle. Thankfully, the grey and brown wolves were concentrating on Harold, so Jack had enough time to scramble to his feet and keep running before the white one resumed its attack. He was almost too slow, though. He heard a growl at his elbow and Jack instinctually swung his gun at the wolf, missed, and nearly lost his grip on the weapon, but the botched attack gave him the precious seconds he needed to get his escape back on track.

Jack ran for another fifteen seconds, slowing down considerably as his muscles tired. If this kept up, he would be caught by the wolves, mauled until no one would be able to tell he was even human anymore. He took another step and felt his foot fall through the air longer than it had before. He expected it to hit the ground and jar his body, but it never stopped falling. Jack's mind slowed down as his arms reached out to catch himself and the ground rushed up to greet his face. _"This is it,"_ he thought. _"I'm going to die."_ But instead of skidding to a halt on twigs and leaves and feeling razor-sharp teeth tear into his flesh, Jack turned sideways and he tumbled down the rest of the hill.

He felt every pebble and rock and branch he rolled over and knew his sides would have massive bruising the next day…if he survived that long. After what felt like an eternity, Jack finally came to a sudden halt against the trunk of a tree, hitting his head hard against the dense bark. Stars swam before his eyes and he tried to look up and gain his bearings.

Dimly, he could see the three wolves still at the top of the steep hill, staring down at him. His father appeared at his side and began to drag Jack's limp body up and over his shoulder.

"Come on, Boy," he said, "we gotta go."

Jack's legs felt like jelly as he tried to get up, still staring blankly at the wolves. Even through his muddled mind, Jack thought that the wolves were acting strangely. They should have continued after them down the hill; it wasn't too steep for them. Instead, they were just staring at the men. The white wolf was standing on a rock in the classic alpha pose while the grey stood below and bared his teeth slightly. The brown one was on the other side of the rock, panting unthreateningly.

Harold tugged harder on Jack's arm and he tried to take a step on his own feet but collapsed back onto his father's shoulder. Slowly, they made their way away from the wolves, who were still silently watching them, and hopefully back toward civilization. They hadn't moved more than ten yards away from the base of the hill when they heard a distant howl pierce the air. A few seconds later, the three wolves that had chased them lifted their voices to join the first.

James turned to look over his father's shoulder. As he watched the wolves howling, he realized that, even though he had been running for his life from them not one minute ago, they were still some of the most spectacular creatures he had ever seen.

* * *

"Damn it!" shouted Hige. "I can't find it."

He was still digging around in Ashi's shoulder for the bullet, but Sora was screeching at him and pulling at his hair.

" _You're hurting him even more, Hige!"_ she screamed.

Hige batted at her with his free hand. "Yeah, well, he's going to die if I can't get this bullet out."

" _Sora_ ," Ashi gasped out through gritted teeth. " _Leave him alone."_

Sora landed on the ground sullenly and glared at Hige, then hopped over and groomed Ashi's muzzle in an attempt to comfort him.

Finally, Hige gave a triumphant "Ah ha" and gently pulled his fingers out of Ashi's wound. Still, as gentl as Hige was, the pain nearly made Ashi black out. Just then, Kiba, Tsume, and Toboe trotted back into view and Hige turned to them, showing off the bloody bullet he had pulled from Ashi's shoulder.

" _Took you long enough,"_ panted Ashi to Hige. Hige shrugged.

"It's not my fault," he said. "They used those hollow point bullets. They're smaller than normal ones and harder to find. Hard to get out too because they turn into flowers once they hit their target."

" _Then why couldn't you leave it in? It would have fallen out eventually, right?_ " asked Ashi as he slowly stood up, favoring his wounded leg. Sora flew up to Ashi's back, picking at the fur on his neck affectionately and quite pointedly ignoring Hige.

" _In the middle of your class, no doubt. Don't forget you leave tomorrow,"_ said Tsume.

" _Yeah,"_ put in Toboe. " _Remember what the centaurs told us about how biased wizards are about creatures other than humans? We'd have the entire wizarding world searching for us if you get found out."_

_"_ _I'd just say I found it somewhere and it fell out of my pocket."_

"All bloody?" asked Hige.

Ashi was silent. He couldn't think of anything to say to that.

_"_ _And if you showed up at school with a gaping hole in your shoulder, someone's bound to start asking questions. There's a full moon tonight so make sure to heal it,"_ said Kiba as he led the way back to their cave for the night.

It was slow going because of Ashi's leg, but they managed to reach the cave just as the moon was coming out. The wolves curled around each other, with Ashi and Sora in the middle, in the clearing just in front of the cave, where the moonlight would be strongest.

* * *

The next morning, the pack made a quick breakfast of a few rabbits and started toward London. The city was about ten miles from their cave, but the wolves had eaten well the previous day and the meal and the moonlight gave them enough energy to make the journey to the outskirts of town in a little more than half an hour; they might have made it sooner, but Ashi's shoulder had yet to fully heal, despite the full moon. It was even slower going after that because they had to travel in their human disguises, both to hide from the humans and so Ashi could carry Sora in her cage. Another hour found them at the entrance of King's Cross Station.

It was extremely busy and large enough to have several front doors, so the pack spent a half hour trudging up and down the entrance searching for the Potters. Needless to say, they received several odd looks from the other people crowding around the station. Every one of the wolves was rather irritated by the time Ashi spotted the Potters at the easternmost door and nudged Kiba. They all traipsed over. Next to the couple were two wheeled trolleys. One held Ashi's single trunk and the other held a delicately decorated trunk and two smaller bags, presumably Lily's.

"Ashi!" called Lily once she spotted them. She waved energetically. None of the wolves waved back.

"How was your week, boys?" asked James.

"Same as always," replied Ashi.

"I was afraid you wouldn't make it here on time," said Lily.

"We were the ones that got here early," muttered Hige under his breath.

"Well, that doesn't matter now," said James. "Let's just get you on the train. Are you ready to start school, Ashi?"

Ashi shrugged. "I suppose," he said. "It'll at least be interesting to see what this is like."

James looked confused. "What what's like? A train ride?"

"Yes, and school."

"You've never been to school before?!" shrieked Lily. Several passing families looked at them but Lilly paid them no mind.

Ashi shook his head. "Never really needed to."

"But…Do you know how to read and write, at least? You must. You spent all that time in the bookstore."

"Of course I know how to read. Just because I've never been to school doesn't mean I'm an idiot," snapped Ashi.

"But how…what have you learned?" Lily turned to face the rest of the pack. "Do you teach him yourselves? While you're on the road?"

Toboe answered for them all. "No, ma'am. He teaches himself. Every time we reach a new town, we stop by the library for a day for him to read and the rest of us gather supplies."

Hige shoved his arms in his hoodie pocket and closed one eye tiredly. "He probably knows more than all four of us put together."

Lily pursed her lips. "Well, I suppose that's okay. But do you mind if I give you a few tests to see if there's something you haven't learned yet?"

"There's plenty I haven't learned yet," quipped Ashi. "But I intend to remedy that."

"Still," retorted Lily, "what if there's something essential that you haven't included in your studies?"

Ashi frowned but thought about it for a few seconds. "Alright. But if I pass these tests and you can find nothing that I'm lacking, will you leave me alone about it?"

"That seems fair."

"Great!" growled Tsume. "Now can we get on this damn train already?"

"Yeah," agreed James. "If we don't go now, you two won't be able to find a decent seat."

To emphasize their want for departure, Toboe stood behind Ashi's trolley and waited. James took his place behind his wife's trolley and rolled it through the front doors of the train station. It took them fifteen minutes to navigate through its crowded hallways, but they finally reached Platform Nine.

James stopped behind one of the pillars between Platforms Nine and Ten, mostly out of the way of the major traffic, and the others crowded around him. He leaned down to Ashi's ear and began to shout instructions over the din.

"Now the way to the Hogwarts platform is a little tricky. See that pillar in front of us?" He pointed and, at Ashi's nod, he continued, "Run straight at it and you'll go through to the platform."

Ashi whipped his head around to look quizzically at James. "What?" he asked.

"You have to…oh, never mind. I'll show you. Watch carefully. It's best to get a bit of a run the first time."

James stood back up and gripped his trolley. He started walking toward the pillar, leaving the rest of his group behind. They all watched as he sped up a bit, the crowd easily moving around him. Surprisingly, none of them stopped to watch the seemingly-impending disaster. James reached the pillar, then he was gone.

Ashi blinked. What, exactly, just happened? He looked at the rest of his pack, but they were just as dumbfounded as he was. Toboe's mouth had actually dropped open as he gawked at where James had disappeared. Slowly, his mouth closed and a grin appeared. "Cool," he said.

"Alright, Ashi," said Lily. "Why don't you go next? We'll be right behind you."

Ashi fidgeted. What if it didn't work for him? What if, instead of disappearing to the platform, he smacked right into the pillar? What if—

"Come on, Ashi," teased Hige. "You ain't chicken are ya? Just go already."

Ashi stiffened his shoulders, tweaking his wounded shoulder in the process. He had to bite back a small moan. "I was getting ready to," he replied. With that, he gripped Sora's cage a little tighter and began a brisk walk toward the hard, imposing pillar. When he was two feet away, he nearly stopped because who would be dumb enough to walk straight into something that had proved time and again that no one could walk _through_ it. This must be some kind of joke his pack and the Potters concocted to make a fool out of him.

Someone must have known what he was thinking, though, because he felt a strong push on his back and he stumbled into the pillar. Ashi braced himself for impact…and felt none. He took another few steps forward and looked around, senses overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of millions of sights, sounds, and smells. He stood there, dumbfounded, as he stared at scads of people shuffling back and forth and chattering endlessly and the huge black and red locomotive puffing softly on the other side of the crowd.

He didn't get to stay there for long, though. He felt a jerk on his arm and he stumbled sideways, out from in front of the wall he had stepped out of just before Toboe and Hige fell through. They landed on each other in a heap of limbs and began a shouting match as they scrambled to get off of each other. Ashi watched, giggling to himself, as his packmates struggled to figure out which limbs were whose. They had just started crawl away from each other when Tsume rolled Ashi's trolley calmly through the wall…straight over Hige's hand.

"OW!" he shouted, jumping up and holding the injured limb. "What was that for, Tsume?"

Tsume looked down the front of the cart, then at Hige's hand. "Oops," he said, unconcerned.

"That's it?" spluttered Hige. "Oops? That hurt, man! You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Tsume pushed the trolley forward a few feet, waving one of his hands noncommittally. "No, I didn't, but you won't believe me, so whatever."

Hige fumed and started stomping his feet around, trying to step on Tsume's toes as payback. Tsume easily avoided him. After three stomps, he got tired of the game and grabbed Hige's uninjured wrist, twisting it behind his back.

"Ow, ow, ow. Okay. I get it," whimpered Hige.

"Come on, guys," said Toboe as he stood up near Ashi and James. He didn't get to continue because Kiba decided that moment would be a good time to come barreling through the wall. He crashed into Tsume, sending them both tumbling in opposite directions: Tsume into the crowd and Kiba back through the wall.

Tsume landed with a grunt on the ground, just barely missing being stepped on. A few people started to skirt around him while he regained his senses, glaring at him for interrupting their path. He sat up into the small gap of space in front of the wall. He rubbed the back of his head and groaned. "What was that?" he muttered.

Hige burst out laughing. "You totally deserved that."

"Shut up," growled Tsume as he stood up. That only caused Ashi and Toboe to start laughing as well. James just stood behind them and smiled awkwardly.

Kiba stepped back through the wall, this time much more slowly. "What happened?" he asked. He stepped next to his pack as Lily appeared behind him and walked over to stand next to James.

Toboe stopped laughing long enough to explain. "Tsume was in your way," he said and started laughing again. Tsume crossed his arms and scowled.

Kiba smiled. "He's been blocking my path ever since I've met him," he said.

"Hey!" protested Tsume. "What about that moose in Russia? I was the one that got him off your back."

"Of course you would take the credit for that," commented Hige. "All you did was give him a different target. It was Toboe and I that really took him down."

"But if we had gone with your plan," retorted Tsume, whirling to face Hige, "we would have had a dead moose _and_ a dead Kiba, and probably a dead Ashi."

Hige bristled. "That's only because you two didn't stick to the plan."

"The plan was a bust as soon as Ashi wandered into that clearing. A kid that young isn't gonna just sit and stay whenever you tell him to."

"It's not my fault he didn't listen to orders," shrugged Hige.

"Guys, enough," said Toboe, stepping up to Tsume's elbow to get in their faces. "We've had this argument already. That was a long time ago and we're all ok. Let's—" He was cut off by a loud whistle from the train.

"Ah," said James, eager to stop the awkward conversation before it escalated. "That's the ten-minute warning. We better get Ashi and Lily on the train."

Tsume growled at Hige. "Fine," he barked and walked into the crowd. "Kiba, shove this hard-head into the wall where he belongs."

"Psh," sniggered Hige, crossing his arms confidently. "He won't do that just cause—Woah!"

Kiba had walked past Hige as he was talking and, with a smirk, did just as Tsume had asked. Hige fell back through the brick wall and disappeared. Toboe and Ashi laughed again as they followed the older wolves to the train.

James and Lily exchanged glances. James grinned and shrugged. "These guys are funny," he whispered. "I think we might get along."

Lily just rolled her eyes and began shoving her way through the crowd to reach the train. James pushed her trolley through the small path she made.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the (slightly) late chapter. I just posted What If rather late (it takes me roughly two hours to edit, review, write my AN, and post each chapter so by the time I got this one up, it would have been far later than I was willing to stay up. I need my sleep! ;) ) and I was busy the next day, so here's a longer chapter than usual to make up for it. And I didn't want to leave people who have read What If grumbling about how little new material there was in this chapter if I ended it with the wolf hunt.
> 
> I had a little bitty heart attack as well because Word decided to label my document (the entire story! plus the new stuff I had written) as corrupted. So I spent an hour trying to recover it. Thank goodness OneDrive saves previous versions otherwise you guys would have had to wait even longer for an update since I would have had to recover Who Am I from FF and rewrite all of my new material. Thank you OneDrive!


	14. Train Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: slight swearing

The good thing about being rather late was that there was hardly anyone jostling for position to get onto the train; they were all waving goodbye to their families from the windows. The bad thing was that Ashi and Lily wouldn’t get their pick of compartments. They made their way to the back of the train where there were fewer people and less of a chance Ashi and Lily would have to share a compartment with anyone else.

The wolves gathered around the entrance the last train car, unsure of what to do. Lily walked past them and up the train steps and started looking for an open compartment. When she found one, she leaned back out the door and gestured for them to follow her. Ashi went first, clutching Sora’s cage nervously. Tsume and Kiba picked up Ashi’s trunk off the trolley and followed. Toboe grabbed one handle of Lily’s trunk and helped James heave it up the steps with Hige carrying her other two bags behind them.

They all traipsed down the hallway to the back of the train and entered a compartment near the middle of the car. If all seven of them went in the compartment, they would hardly have enough room to _breathe_ let alone room to move, so Lily and Ashi waited next to the back door while the others dropped off their burdens one by one. Once they had lifted the trunks to the luggage rack overhead and Ashi had set a sleeping Sora on the floor by the window, they all congregated back in the hall.

Having had this experience several times before, Lily immediately went up to James and kissed him on the cheek, whispering goodbyes and promises to write and fire-call. The wolves, however, just stared at each other awkwardly. They had ever had to say goodbye to each other before and they didn’t really want to follow the Potters’ example.

After a few seconds of tense silence, Tsume clapped Ashi on the shoulder and said, “Later, Brat,” and walked back out to the platform.

“We’ll see you soon,” assured Kiba as he also turned and disembarked the train.

Hige leaned down to whisper in Ashi’s ear as he passed, “We’ll be following along.” He gave a rather obvious wink, which made Ashi grin, before joining Kiba and Tsume.

Toboe reached out and pressed something that was both warm and cold into Ashi’s palm. “Here,” he said simply.

Ashi looked at the object and his palm and twitched in surprise as he realized what it was. “Toboe, I—” he started.

“Keep it,” interrupted Toboe. “I’m planning to give the others one too.” He pressed his index finger to his lips and winked before turning around and walking to the door.

Ashi looked back down at his palm and slid one of Toboe’s silver bangles onto his wrist. It was chipped and scratched, but in pretty good condition for its age, showing just how much Toboe treasured them; they were the last things he had to remind him of Granny. He looked up at Toboe’s retreating back and smiled. “Thanks, Toboe.”

Toboe smiled and waved one last time before jumping down to stand next to the rest of his pack.

Ashi nearly jumped in surprise when James’s hand slapped onto his shoulder, thankfully the one that wasn’t wounded, without warning. “Well, kid,” he said. “I’ll see you in a bit. Maybe this weekend, eh?”

Ashi nearly rolled his eyes. He grunted noncommittally, hoping the human would take the hint.

James laughed weakly then turned back to his wife. “Bye, Lily. Take care of Ashi for me.”

Ashi nearly growled in annoyance. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, thank you very much.

“Don’t worry. I will,” replied Lily as she appeared behind Ashi and placed two gentle hands on his shoulders to watched James leave.

Once James was off the train, Ashi ducked out of Lily’s grip and slipped past her to the compartment. He had a feeling this was going to be a long ride and he wanted to get comfortable as soon as he could. He hopped up onto the seat cushion and reached into his trunk. He heard Lily step up to the doorway.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what did Toboe give you?” she asked as she sat down on the opposite seat.

Ashi stopped blindly searching his trunk to consider telling her. He pulled his left arm out of the trunk and silently showed her the bangle.

“Oh,” she said. “Is it special?”

Ashi shrugged. “Only to us.”

“I see.”

Ashi shuffled around for a few more seconds before he found what he was looking for: a book. More specifically, _Hogwarts: A History_. He shut the lid of the trunk and plopped down on the seat, startling Sora awake. She hooted at him, irritated at being awoken prematurely. He inclined his head in apology but it was too late. She was already asleep again. Ashi smiled and opened the book to where he had left off.

“Oh, I remember that book,” commented Lily.

Ashi had to resist the urge to glare at her. He had been doing a lot of resisting lately which he supposed showed just how unsocialized he was since this type of small talk was apparently normal with the humans. The wolves had never felt the need to make small talk, normally needing to be silent and on the lookout for prey or predators, so it was rather irksome when the silence Ashi craved was constantly being broken by the humans.

“That was one of the first wizarding books I ever read,” continued Lily. “How far have you gotten?”

Ashi glanced down at the book and back up at Lily. “Chapter three,” he said.

“Ah, yes,” she purred.

She started to ramble about how interesting that particular chapter was and how fascinating the castle was. Ashi tuned her out and started reading his chapter. It was a rather short one and he had finished it by the time the train blew the one-minute whistle. Lily was still chattering on about Hogwarts. She was interrupted when the compartment door slid open.

“Anyone sitting here?” asked a rather short, redheaded boy the same age as Ashi. “Everywhere else is full.”

“Of course not, dear,” replied Lily instantly. “Come in and make yourself comfortable.”

“Thanks,” said the boy and shuffled through the door, dragging a trunk behind him. He pushed the trunk under the window next to Sora, then slumped into the seat next to Ashi and slid an old-looking pack under his feet.

“Are you a first year?” asked Lily.

The boy nodded. “Yeah.”

“I thought so. I’ve never seen you in class before. I’m Professor Potter, the Potions Master.”

“Ron Weasley. Nice to meet you.”

“So you’re a Weasley? I thought I recognized that red hair.” She giggled. “It’s so distinctive.”

Ron blushed as red as his hair and muttered a quiet, “Thanks.”

“This is Ashi, my son,” continued Lily, gesturing to Ashi who had buried his head in his book again. “He’s also starting his first year at Hogwarts.”

Ron gave a tiny wave. “Hi.”

Ashi looked up for a second and said, “Hi,” before reading again.

The train car jerked and squealed as they began their journey to Hogwarts. Ashi looked out the window at the people streaming by, searching halfheartedly for his pack.

“Here we go, boys,” said Lily, also leaning to look out the window. “The next time you’ll see this station is Christmas. That is, if you decide to go home.”

Soon the faces were blurring into one giant mass as the train picked up speed and Ashi gave up his search and simply stared out the window. A few seconds later the dark indoor walls disappeared and the world suddenly became three times as bright. He squinted until his eyes became used to the light. His eyes refocused just in time as several students rushed past their door to the back of the train, chattering loud enough that the din penetrated the sound-proof compartment walls.

“Oh,” said Lily. “I wonder what’s wrong.” She stood up and opened the door, flooding their compartment with noise as the students started shouting for each other to move so they could see. “Excuse me, please,” shouted Lily as she also joined the throng of students, closing the door behind her. Because she was an adult, therefore being taller than many of the students and having the authority of a professor, she quickly disappeared.

Ron stood up and stuck his head out. “Hey,” he asked a passing student, “what’s going on?”

The student paused as he was trying to shove his way through the crowd to see the action. “Somebody said a bunch of huge dogs were following us.”

“Cool,” whispered Ron and he shut and locking the door quickly to prevent any unwanted students from invading their compartment to look out the window as he and Ashi were doing. They were just far enough away from the end of the train that they couldn’t quite see it, but that didn’t matter. They could still see two wolves, a grey and a brown, running along the side of the tracks, keeping up with the train rather easily.

“Blimey,” whispered Ron next to Ashi’s ear where he was pressing his nose against the cold glass to see the wolves. “What’re they doing?”

Ashi grinned and shrugged. “Who knows,” he replied.

The landscape began to blur even more and the wolves gradually started to fall behind. The two boys, as well as the students outside the compartment, continued to watch until they were nothing more than specks in the distance. Finally, Ron dropped back into his seat with a sigh. Ashi watched the students outside the compartment walk away for a few seconds before he picked up his book again.

“That was pretty cool, huh? I bet Fred and George had something to do with that,” Ron said. “Trying to scare all the first years by casting a spell on them or something. They won’t tell me anything about Hogwarts, not even what we have to do when we’re sorted. They told me we would have to wrestle a troll, but I don’t believe that, do you?”

Ashi shrugged. “Don’t know. Might be, but I don’t think they would make us do anything dangerous.”

Ron hummed. “Good point.”

Before he could continue to throw out ideas of what they had to do to be sorted, a knock resounded throughout the room. Both boys looked up to see a rather irate Lily staring back at them and gesturing for them to open the door.

“Oops,” whispered Ron. “I forgot about that.” He stood up to unlock the door and let Lily in.

“Goodness,” sighed Lily as she slid the door shut and sat back down. “I’ve forgotten how much of a zoo this train can be.”

“Professor?” asked Ron timidly. “What was with those dogs?”

Lily shrugged. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It must have been some kind of prank, an illusion or something.”

“I bet Fred and George had something to do with it. They’ve been teasing me all summer about going to Hogwarts for the first time. Hey, what do we have to do when we’re sorted? Fred and George said we’d have to wrestle a troll, but I don’t believe them. You’re a professor, right, so you’d know what we’d have to do.”

Ashi only barely kept himself from staring blandly at the boy. He had never heard anyone prattle on as much as he had. He shifted his gaze to Lily to see what she thought.

Lily chuckled dryly. “Well, you won’t have to wrestle a troll, but I’m not going to tell you what you’re going to do. Makes this trip a bit exciting, don’t you think?”

Ron pouted. “I guess.” He propped his elbow on the windowsill and rested his chin in his hand, staring dully at the scenery whizzing by them.

Ashi went back to his book. Lily also pulled a book from her belongings and shuffled through the pages until she found the one she wanted. A heavy silence fell over their car but none of them did anything to ease its weight. But soon, Ron was snoring softly and Ashi was buried so deeply in the world of Hogwarts that he was able to ignore the awkward looks Lily shot him every few minutes. Ashi would have been very happy to have the entire train ride pass in this (almost) complete silence, but he was not so lucky.

An hour into the trip, their compartment door slid open, hitting the door jamb with a sharp snap, startling Lily and Ashi enough to jump and Ron out of his nap.

“Huh?” asked Ron blearily. “Wazzit?” He looked around, still half-asleep, then rubbed his eyes.

A short, bushy-haired girl stuck her head into the compartment and answered Ron. “Have you guys seen a toad? Neville’s lost his.” She said all this in one breath, as if she was trying to rush through and confirm what she already knew: that there was no toad here.

Ashi’s heart was still pounding in his chest and he was too busy berating himself for becoming so relaxed as to not have noticed someone approaching their compartment to pay any attention to her inquiry.

“Uhm, no, sweetie,” answered Lily. “We haven’t. Sorry.”

“Oh. Okay,” she said a bit more slowly, peering at Lily curiously. “I hope you don’t mind me asking, but who are you? Are you a professor?”

“Yes, dear. I am. I’m the Potions Professor. Are you a first-year?”

“Yes. Why are you here? I read in Hogwarts: A History that all the professors go to the school early to set up for the year.”

“Well, yes, they usually do, but I was given special permission from Headmaster Dumbledore to come on this train so I could spend some time with my son, Ashi.” She gestured to Ashi as she said this and the bushy-haired girl’s attention turned to him.

The girl closed her eyes and powered off her speech in a haughty, know-it-all tone. “I didn’t know any of the professors had kids. You know _Hogwarts: A History_ has pictures of all the professors who have ever taught there? Well, they all looked too old to have kids. Well, except for Professor…Are you Professor Potter?”

“Yes, I am.”

“But I read in _History of the Wizarding World_ that your only son got eaten by wolves. It seemed like a big deal because I read that there was a prophecy that said he was supposed to be the one to defeat Voldemort and everyone was sad because he died, but then they found out that Voldemort really did die and that the prophecy came true, but then I read all kinds of things where they talked about what really happened that night. Some people say that the prophecy was fulfilled and Harry’s role in this world was over so the wolves showed up to take him back—but that doesn’t make sense because you said the wolves killed Voldemort first—and others say that Harry summoned the wolves to defeat Voldemort for him and then they ate him as payment and other say that you and Mr. Potter summoned the wolves to kill Voldemort and then gave them your son as payment.”

Ashi had been switching his gaze from Lily to the bushy-haired girl during this tirade and had noticed the color draining out of her face. Either this was a very sore subject for her or the girl had just rattled off something Lily wanted to keep secret.

The girl continued, oblivious to Lily’s discomfiture. “I think it’s all nonsense, really. I read a biography about you and you don’t seem like the kind of person who would summon wolves and sacrifice your baby to them. I suppose Harry could have summoned them himself, but he was a baby, so he’d have to be pretty powerful to do that and if he was so powerful, why did he let the wolves take him? I think it was just a hungry pack of wolves because they’ve been known to do that sort of thing before when they’re really hungry and your house was close to the woods and they must have smelled blood or something to go that far into your house.”

“Yes, well, that’s all very interesting, dear, but I’m afraid even I don’t know exactly what happened,” interrupted Lily. Her voice was shaking a bit but she did a good job at hiding it.

The girl paused for a moment, considering Lily’s words, then kept going. “I suppose anything is possible where magic is concerned. I want to learn all I can. I’ve memorized all of our course books just in case. Do you think it’ll be enough? I’m Hermione Granger, by the way.”

Ashi was take aback when he heard this declaration and he glanced around at the other occupants. Ron went pale and Lily looked absolutely shocked so Ashi didn’t think they were required to memorize the books. Actually, he would be surprised if any of the other students had taken their books out of their wrappings. He certainly wasn’t going to waste time reading a book they would be required to read later anyway; he could spend his time reading or doing more productive things.

“Uhm. Well, yes. I-I think so,” stammered Lily. “You really didn’t have to go that far, Hermione, but I suppose it won’t hurt. I’m Professor Potter—I teach potions—and this is my son, Ashi.”

“I’m Ron Weasley,” piped up Ron.

“Ashi?” asked Hermione, looking at Ashi rather hard. “Is that Japanese? My family got to go to Japan once. I got to learn some of the language. It means paw, right? Seems kind of weird for your parents to name you after a part of an animal. And why Japanese? The Potters aren’t Japanese, so why pick that name?”

“Why not?” asked Ashi hotly. “It’s tradition where I come from.”

“Are you adopted then? How long have you been living in England? Do you like it here? I think it’s a bit chilly but otherwise its pretty nice. I heard Hogwarts is in Scotland, though, so the weather might be different.” She paused and looked at him expectantly.

“What?” he asked. He had been mostly tuning her out while she prattled; she was talking much too fast for him to keep up with her.

“How long have you been in England?” she asked again, a bit more slowly.

“About two weeks,” he replied.

“Two weeks?!” squeaked Ron, jumping into the conversation. “Then how do you speak English so well?”

“I said I’ve been in England for two weeks, but that doesn’t mean I’ve spent the rest of my time in Japan,” replied Ashi stiffly.

“Really? Then where’ve you been?” asked Ron.

“Around.”

“Oh. Okay,” said Ron dejectedly.

There was silence for a few seconds in the compartment. Hermione kept staring at Ashi like he had grown a second nose, Ron looked down at his hands awkwardly, Lily glanced curiously between the three, and Ashi hefted his book again, hoping Hermione would get the hint and leave. She didn’t and opened her mouth again to make another comment but was interrupted by the trolley.

“Anything from the trolley, dears?” asked the lady pushing the small cart. “Oh, hello, Professor Potter. How are you?”

“Hello, Mrs. Woodbead,” replied Lily. “I’m doing alright. Ready for the school year, I suppose. And yourself?”

“Oh, I’m gettin’ along, dear. But what are you doing here, lass? I usually see you on the Professors’ Express. I thought maybe you had quit when I didn’t see you and no one else knew anythin’ about it.”

“No, no. Nothing like that,” assured Lily. “I stayed behind so I could spend some time with my son, Ashi.” She gestured to Ashi, who had gone back to reading his book, effectively ignoring the entire compartment. Hermione had disappeared and Ron went back to looking out the window, only half-listening to the conversation.

“Oh, my. Another one already? But you were heartbroken when little Harry disappeared. Why, he would’ve been startin’ Hogwarts this year, wouldn’t he? How’d you manage to pop out another one so soon?”

Lily blushed. “Actually, Mrs. Woodbead, this is Harry. He’s just changed his name.”

Ron’s head jerked around to stare at his companions. Ashi ignored them all, and Mrs. Woodbead raised her hands to her mouth in pleasant surprise.

“Oh, my! Congratulations, deary!” She shuffled through the door, sat down next to Lily, and hugged her.  When she finally let go, she looked at the younger woman expectantly. “Well, don’t leave an old girl waitin’—I ain’t got time for that, ya know. Tell me all about it. What happened to him and how’d ya find him?”

“Well, we really don’t know what happened. The wolves took him, and then we don’t know. The people who raised him said they found him in the woods.”

“So he was taken in by a good family, then?”

“Well, yes. I think so anyway. Not exactly the typical family you’d expect but they managed alright. It sounds like they traveled around a lot.”

Mrs. Woodbead squinted suspiciously at Lily then glanced at Ashi before turning back to whisper conspiratorially in Lily’s ear. “They’re not circus people, are they?” she whispered.

“No. Why do you ask? You make it seem like circus people are terrorists or something.”

“Well, I suppose most of them are good chaps, but I’ve met quite a few that were a bit…queer. I couldn’t imagine them raising any sort of child that would turn out behaving better than a wild dog.”

Lily laughed nervously. “Well, I think they did a better job than you would expect. The only reason I said they were not what you’d expect is that they’re all boys.”

Mrs. Woodbead peered suspiciously first at Lily then at Ashi, who was still keeping his nose in his book. “No woman in his life then?” she whispered. “Goodness, he must be very gruff.”

“Oh, no. Not at all. They did a very nice job with him,” assured Lily.

“Well, if you say so, dear.” Mrs. Woodbead huffed a sigh and stood up. “Oh, dear,” she moaned. “My aching back. I’m getting to old for this job, but ya know I just don’t know what else to do with myself. I best be off now, though. It’s time for my nap.” She stepped out the door with Lily on her heels but paused at her cart. “Here, dear. Have some chocolate frogs. It’s on the house.”

“Oh, but Mrs. Woodbead—" protested Lily.

“Ah, ah,” interrupted the old witch. “Think of it as a congratulatory gift from me. Be sure to give one to Harry for me to welcome him back.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Woodbead,” said Lily, grasping the handful of chocolate frogs she was given.

“Bye, bye, now.”

“Bye.”

Lily stepped back inside the carriage and shut the door.

As soon as it was closed, Ron startled them by shouting, “ _You’re Harry Potter_?!”

Ashi’s gaze latched onto Ron, confused. “Yes, I suppose. My name isn’t Harry, though.”

Ron ignored him. “I thought you were just his brother or something, but you’re really him. How did you do it? Escape from the wolves, I mean.”

“Now, Ron,” answered Lily before Ashi could, keeping her tone gentle but firm. “We don’t really know what happened. They took him, then left him in the woods. We don’t know why and that’s all there is to it.”

Ron visibly shrank under her stern gaze. “Oh. Okay. Sorry.”

Lily sighed. “That’s alright, Ron. You just have to know when to stop.”

“Yes, ma’am,” muttered Ron.

“Good,” smiled Lily, then reached out her hand to the boys. “Here. Mrs. Woodbead gave these to me for you two.” The wrappers of four chocolate frogs crinkled in her hand.

Ron leaned over to see what she had. “Oh, no thank you. I’ve got, um, some sandwiches here. Mum made them for me.”

“Come now. Surely she wouldn’t mind if you just had these two. Here.” Lily picked up two of the frogs and pushed them into Ron’s hand.

“Okay. Um, thanks.”

“Here, Ashi. These are for you.” She passed the other two to Ashi.

Ashi looked at the frogs critically. He had had chocolate before but very infrequently. It wasn’t like the pack had extra money to spend on such luxuries as candy.

Next to him, Ron ripped open the packaging of his first frog. Immediately, the frog jumped from his hand to land with a wet splat on the window. Ron grunted as he slapped his hand over the frog to catch it, then stuffed it into his mouth. A few streaks of chocolate were left on the window.

Ashi grimaced when he saw the animated frog. He knew the wizards were an eccentric and, quite frankly, weird group of people, but this was a bit much. There were very few animals that would eat their prey alive; it was just too barbaric to do otherwise. The ones that did leave their prey alive either didn’t care or didn’t have the equipment to kill the prey before they ate it—snakes, for example, didn’t have fangs in quite the right position to puncture the smaller prey in a place that would kill right away.

Ashi shuddered as he remembered seeing a snake snap up a frog once. It had taken a fantastically-long time to get the frog down its gullet and all the while the legs were kicking frantically like it somehow thought it would be able to get away.

Neither Lily nor Ron noticed Ashi’s discomfort though. While he was chewing the frog, Ron reached into the packaging and mumbled in displeasure when he held up a little card. “Aw, I got Dumbledore again. I’ve got like six of him,” he said.

Ashi looked closer at the card. “What’s that?” he asked.

Ron held the card higher and looked at Ashi questioningly. “What, these? They collecting cards. You haven’t seen them before?”

Ashi shook his head. Unfortunately, that gave Ron an excuse to ramble on about his card collection and how he only needed one card to complete it. Ashi stopped listening after the first three word and turned over one of his own chocolate frogs. It wriggled in the packaging and Ashi quickly squished its head before he could think about it too much.

He didn’t have a problem with killing for food, but there was something about _frogs_ that just rubbed him the wrong way. These frogs didn’t have the bulging eyes or the slimy skin of normal frogs, but still…

Ashi carefully opened the package and took out the frog, holding it up by one leg and looking at it suspiciously.

"Aw,” said Ron. “It got squished in the package. It’s always more fun when they hop around.”

 Ashi shot Ron an incredulous look but Ron was already looking down at his second chocolate frog and tearing it open.  Ashi tilted back his head and dropped the frog into his mouth so he didn’t have to watch Ron having fun with his almost-alive frog. He looked down at his lap and fingered the collectable card included with the frog. The front held a picture of a rather short old man with firey red hair squinting irritably into the camera.  Fancy script beneath the picture screamed ‘ _Nicolas Flamel’_ at him. 

Ron leaned over to see Ashi’s card. “Oh, cool. You got Flamel? He’s really rare. I’ve only got two of him. 

Ashi hummed at him, uninterested and turned over the card. There was a long paragraph there about Flamel and his work with the Sorcerer’s Stone, a magical rock that could make an elixir that kept the drink from growing old. Ashi suppressed a shudder. Who in the world would want to live forever? It seemed like a boring, endless existence; a life with no purpose.

Ron started grumbling about getting Morgana for the eighth time while Ashi ate his second frog. The other card was Victor Krum, a famous quidditch player for the Bulgarian national quidditch team.

“What the hell is quidditch?” muttered Ashi.

“Ashi!” squeaked Lily.

Ashi looked up, confused. “What?” he asked.

“Language,” snapped Lily.

“What’s wrong with my language?” For a moment, Ashi wondered if he had accidentally switched to wolf-speak, but then tossed out that idea. He hadn’t done that since he was a pup.

“You said a bad word, mate,” said Ron, looking dumbfounded and sheepish at the same time; he was amazed Ashi was brave enough to say a bad word and embarrassed to witness him get scolded by his mother.

Ashi raised an eyebrow. “A bad word?”

“Yes, Ashi. That was a bad word,” said Lily.

“What was?”

Lily closed her eyes and calmed her self before she spoke again. “Ron, don’t tell your mother about this. Ashi, don’t use the word ‘hell’ in that context anymore.”

“Why not?” asked Ashi, still confused. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s just…not polite.”

Oh. So that’s what it was: another weird human concept. He had heard from his pack that some humans had a grudge against certain words, but he had thought they were joking with him. Apparently not. “O-kaay,” said Ashi slowly.

“Thank you,” huffed Lily. She cleared her throat. “Quidditch is a wizarding game played on broomsticks. There are seven players on each team: the Keeper, the Chasers, the Beaters, and the Seeker—and four balls: Quaffle, two Bludgers, and a Golden Snitch. There are six hoops, three on each side of the field. The Chasers’ job is to get the Quaffle through the hoops on the opposing team’s side. The Keeper keeps the Quaffle out of his hoops. The Beaters keep the Bludgers—those fly around recklessly on their own—away from their team. The Seeker searches for the Golden Snitch. The game ends when the Snitch is caught.”

“Oh, there’s so much more to it than that,” objected Ron.

Ashi rolled his eyes discreetly when Ron started on another rant about how great quidditch was, how he wanted to play on his House team, and how awesome the Chudley Cannons were this season. He listened half-heartedly, inserting a, “Really?” or a “Hmm,” every now and then as politeness dictated as he watched the scenery go by outside the window.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Lily start reading. He burned with envy whenever she turned a page. She was able to enjoy herself in another world while Ashi was stuck listening to mindless prattle.

Lily smiled to herself as she flipped a page. It was good that Ashi already had a friend before they even got to Hogwarts. Then she frowned when she remembered the earlier mishap with Ashi’s language. She would have to watch that from now on.

* * *

Not soon enough for any of them, the sun sank beneath the horizon and a loudspeaker crackled to life, announcing that they would be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes. It advised the students to change into their robes and leave their luggage on the train; it would be brought inside later.

Lily closed her book with a snap and stood up. She reached up to their trunks and switched the book for her robes, then reached into Ashi’s and Ron’s trunks and pulled out their robes. “Here,” she said. “Just put these on here. You can leave your muggle clothes on underneath if you want. I’ll just step out here.”

Ron stared at his robes for a moment after Lily left. “Eh. I think I’ll just slip ‘em on. I don’t wanna change when I’ll just have to do it again in an hour.”

Ashi was already pulling his robe over his head. He had decided earlier to wear clothes under his robes all the time. It was just too weird a feeling to have something flapping around his bare legs.

While Ron was busy wrestling his robe on, Ashi stepped over to Sora’s cage—she had woken up when Lily shuffled around in their trunks for their robes—and opened the little door. She nibbled at his finger affectionately before hopping onto his arm.

 _“Are we there?”_ she asked.

 _“Soon. Five minutes,”_ he replied softly.

She hooted happily, then flapped to his shoulder to look out the window with him. It was no use, though. It was too dark to see anything other than the blurry shapes of trees whizzing by, but Ashi and Sora were able to enjoy each other’s company for a few moments.

“Cool owl,” said Ron. “Where’d you get her?”

“Lily and James got her for me in Diagon Alley,” replied Ashi as he stroked the feathers beneath Sora’s chin.

“Cool. Hey, how come you don’t call them ‘Mum’ and ‘Dad’?”

“Why should I? Those are their names.”

“Well, yeah, but their your parents, aren’t they?”

“Yeah. Sure,” muttered Ashi. He turned back to the window. Sora rubbed her face against his to comfort him. His parents—his biological parents—had always been a sore subject for Ashi. Sure, he loved his pack and he was glad they had found and raised him, but he always wondered why he had been with humans instead of wolves.

Ron looked like he was about to say something else when the compartment door slid open.

“Oh, Ashi,” said Lily, softly. “I’m sorry, but you can’t have your owl out yet. Rules of the train; they just don’t want a million owls flying around and escaping or getting hurt. You’ll be able to let her out in the owlery tomorrow.”

Ashi didn’t say anything. Sora’s neck disappeared into her feathers as she pouted. Ashi smiled at her pettiness and scratched her back just the way she liked it for a few seconds before he set her in front of her cage again.

She whistled air through her beak in a sigh before she hopped from Ashi’s arm to her perch.

 _“Someone will be along while we’re gone to take you to my room, I guess,”_ said Ashi.

 _“Alright.”_ Sora tucked her head under her wing again and sat down on her legs.

Ashi could tell she was still pouting, but there was nothing he could do so he simply sat back down in his seat and waited for the train to finish its journey. He opened his book again, but couldn’t concentrate on reading. He flipped through the pages, trying to find some pictures. There was a full-page of the outside of the castle and two smaller ones of the inside. As far as Ashi could tell, it was a fairly nice castle, but nowhere near as big as some of the ones he had seen in France and Spain.

The train finally screeched to a halt. Ashi looked up from his book, wondering what they would do next. A rush of noise flooded the train. Compartment doors slammed open and loud voices and thudding feet filled the hallway. Ashi looked out the window and watched students file onto the station platform. The noise outside their compartment lessened as the noise outside the train increased.

Lily stood up. “Well, boys. Let’s get going.”


	15. Hogwarts

_Previously on_ Who Am I

_The train finally screeched to halt. Ashi looked up from his book, wondering what they would do next._

_A rush of noise flooded the train. Compartment doors slammed open and loud voices and thudding feet filled the hallway._ _Ashi looked out the window and watched students file onto the station platform. the noise outside their compartment lessened as the noise outside increased._

* * *

Lily, Ron, and Ashi followed the last few students off the train. The platform was teeming with bodies milling about, wondering what to do. Ashi looked around and spotted a few students who looked like they knew what they were doing stepping off the platform. He moved to follow them but Lily's arm shot out and stopped him.

"This way, Ashi," she said, pushing her way through the crowd and dragging him and Ron with her. "First years go a different way. Hagrid!"

Ashi looked ahead of them and spotted the giant man he had met with James and Lily in Diagon Alley. He was holding a small lantern high in one fist and bellowing, "Firs' years! Firs' years. Over heer!" He looked over when he heard Lily's shout.

"Lily!" he shouted. "There ya are. I were expectin' ya on th' Professor's Express. We all thot ya had quit er somethin'. Well, I knew ye hadn't 'cause ah 'arry 'n all. 'ello, 'arry. 'ow ya been?"

Ashi scowled. "It's Ashi."

"Erm, sorry, Ashi," stammered Hagrid, rubbing the back of his head.

Ashi nodded once in acceptance of the apology, then looked away toward the rest of the students milling around them.

"Eh haha," laughed Lily nervously. "Well, Hagrid. I'll leave them with you for now. See you at the castle, okay boys?"

"Yeah, sure, Professor," said Ron.

She waved as she walked away.

"Come on, ever'one," shouted Hagrid once she had disappeared into the crowd. "Le's go. Foller me."

Hagrid led the group down a dark, steep path to a dock with several small boats moored to it. Ashi climbed into one of them with Ron and another two boys and sat down near the front. Once they were all in, Hagrid commanded the boats to move and they were off, drifting through the blackness of the lake with only the lanterns at the bows of each of their boats indicate where they were going.

Nothing happened for a while and Ashi's bored mind began to wonder how the older students got to the school and whether the first years went to a different building than the rest. Slowly, the group rounded a bend and Ashi heard several awed 'Whoa's behind him.

He looked up to see one of the biggest castles he had ever seen; _Hogwarts: A History_ didn't do it justice. It was even bigger than the ones he had seen in France, and certainly in much better condition. Several towers rose into the air to touch the stars and lights glinted from nearly every window. It was spectacular.

Ashi continued to stare at the castle as they drifted toward it in the boats, but was distracted when he heard a soft splash not too far away from them. He peered into the darkness and saw ripples in the water coming closer to the boats. It was too dark below the surface of the water even for Ashi to see what exactly was stalking them. As the ripples entered the circle of light cast by the boat's lantern, Ashi began to hear the other boys whispering behind him. He kept his eyes on the water.

The ripples neared the boat, growing smaller until they nearly disappeared due to the slowness of their approach. Ashi felt something hit the boat gently and the three boys behind him each gave a little cry of surprise as they clenched the sides of the boat. Ashi leaned out over water and looked in.

He saw nothing at first, but then he noticed a great eye staring back up at him; it was at least five inches in diameter. Ashi wasn't too versed in the magical portion of the animal kingdom, but he knew there were only so many animals that lived in water that had eyes that big so he wasn't very surprised when a huge tentacle came slithering slowly out of the water toward him.

Ashi leaned back into the boat and looked at the giant squid's tentacle, which swayed slightly in front of him. Tentatively, he reached out a hand and touched the side of the tentacle without suction cups. Even though it was only the tip of the tentacle, it was so big his fingers wouldn't have been able to touch each other if he had grasped it. It was surprisingly soft and felt rubbery and cold. Ashi could feel the muscles churning beneath his touch and the blood being pumped just beneath the skin. Ashi smiled and reached to touch one of the cups on the opposite side. They pulsed and wriggled beneath his finger.

The tentacle curled a little and the small ball the tip made touched Ashi's face, exploring him as he explored it. It started at Ashi's temple just below his hairline and dragged the tip gently down his cheek, then reached back up, uncurled, to navigate through Ashi's hair. This would have been a rather awkward and disgusting experience for anyone else, but Ashi was quite comfortable with the squid's actions. It felt like the gentle caress of a loving mother and he felt no animosity, nor harmful intent from the creature.

"AAAHHHH!"

The tentacle went rigid and sank quickly back into the water with a plop. Ashi watched the eye blink once before it sank below the boat and out of sight. He looked back to glare at whoever had screamed. It had sounded very much like a girl's and Ashi had to try very hard not to grin when he realized that the one who had screamed was Ron.

"D-d-did you s-s-ee that?" asked Ron with a squeaky voice, pointing at Ashi.

The two other boys in the boat both stared open-mouthed at Ashi and one slowly nodded. The other students had apparently missed all the action though because Ashi heard shouts of "What? What happened?" from behind them.

He glared hard at Ron before turning back to the front of the boat and sat down again. He had lost interest in the castle now and wanted to hurry up and get there.

It was another few minutes before they reached the other end of the lake and disembarked on its banks. Ashi now found himself relatively alone in the crowd of students. Ron stood a few feet away, but instead of chatting animatedly with Ashi about the castle as others were, he only glanced nervously at him every few seconds.

The group followed Hagrid up the steps to the castle doors. They creaked open after Hagrid knocked and they were greeted by the face of a tall, stern-looking witch. Hagrid handed the first years off to the witch, whom he addressed as Professor McGonagall, and the children followed her down the torch-lit, stone hallway.

She led them into a small room and Ashi could hear the chattering of many voices on the other side of one wall. Apparently, the rest of the school was already here and waiting for them. Time for the Sorting.

Professor McGonagall explained the Houses and the rules for the children, then left the chamber. The students around Ashi began muttering about how the Sorting would be done. Several of them suggested a paper test and he heard Ron mention the bit about wrestling a troll to his new friends. That particular theory had been debunked by Lily and, while the paper test was more likely, there would be several children from non-wizarding families to be sorted and the chance that any of them would have any clue about magic at this moment was almost nonexistent, so Ashi was fairly certain neither of those two suggestions would pan out.

Ashi was starting to get impatient again when a group of ghosts wafted in through the back wall, causing a few of the girls to shriek. The ghosts were arguing about something and completely ignored the children until one ghost shouted, "New students!" and said a few praiseful words about his old House, Hufflepuff, to them while his companions rolled their eyes and crossed their arms as they waited for him to finish.

Professor McGonagall came back to the chamber, interrupting the chattering ghosts. They grumbled a bit, but left quickly, drifting straight through the first years. When they passed in front of Ashi, however, several of them tipped their hats or bobbed their heads at him and smiled.

Ashi nodded back, wondering why he was getting so much attention. First the squid and now the ghosts.

Professor McGonagall instructed them to form a line and led them out into the Great Hall. It was so big, Ashi could barely see the other end. He couldn't see the ceiling at all because of the spell decorating it like the night sky and the hundreds of candles floating in the air.

The students sat at tables as long as the Hall. At the head of the hall, a significantly shorter table at which the teachers sat was set perpendicular to the others; Lily wiggled the tips of her fingers at him from the further end of the table when she caught him looking. All of the tables were littered with golden goblets and plates and had several flags of various colors unique to each table hanging over them.

McGonagall stopped the first years in front of the head table and softly placed a stool in the middle of the line. She pulled out an old, extremely dirty and tattered wizard's hat and placed it on the stool. She stepped back and nothing happened for a few seconds. Then, the hat began to sing. Nearly half the song was about how important the hat itself was, then it changed gears and sang about the four houses. Ashi didn't see why the song was necessary, but the whole hall burst into applause after it finished.

McGonagall stepped forward again and explained the Sorting Process, then began to call names in alphabetical order.

The first few when to Hufflepuff, then some to Ravenclaw, one or two to Gryffindor, and one or two to Slytherin. Sometimes the hat shouted out the house at once, other times it took a while to decide.

The only other student he knew, Hermione Granger, went to Ravenclaw and he thought he recognized the boy from the robes shop be sorted into Slytherin, but he couldn't be sure it was him.

It seemed to take forever before Ashi's name was called. He almost missed it because McGonagall didn't call the name he was used to.

"Potter, Harry!"

He stepped forward to the stool and immediately heard the students begin to whisper.

"Harry Potter?"

"Did she say 'Potter'?"

"Is it really him?"

"It must be. Unless the Potters had another kid when we weren't looking."

"But I thought the wolves ate him. How is he here now?"

He saw several of them rise from their seats to get a better look at him as he sat down on the spindly stool, but then his vision was blocked by the brim of the hat. The world went silent as the hat dropped over his ears and Ashi started to hope he would be able to visit the hat more often to escape from the torrents of noise his sensitive ears always picked up. He heard a soft chuckle when he finished his thought.

"No, my boy. I don't think we will see each other after this."

Ashi nearly cried out. The hat could read his mind!

"Yes, I can read your mind. How else would I be able to sort you into the right house?"

Ashi had to admit the hat made a valid point.

"Now, let's see. Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage. Not too shabby at being cunning. Very smart."

Ashi didn't really care where he went.

"Now, dear boy. This decision could affect your entire life and how the others treat you. You would fit in very well in any of the houses, but with your future, it would be best you had the most influence you could possibly have. Yours is a very hard path to travel, but if you find some friends, the road will be smoother. These children are eager to learn and even more eager to form bonds, not out of obligation, but out of a true desire to know you.

"You have quite a bit of pride, but do not let that drive you to push them away, dear boy. Wait until the moment is right to show them your true self. They are quick to judge, but once you pass their tests, they will never let you down. Prove yourself to be faithful and good while you are in SLYTHERIN!"


	16. Slytherin

Ashi heard the hat shout the last word to the entire hall. He sat there dumbfounded for a few seconds. He wanted to interrogate the hat more about this "difficult future" of his, but Professor McGonagall yanked the hat off his head and sent him to the table with the silver and green flags amidst a completely silent hall.

As he walked between the Slytherin table and Hufflepuff table looking for a seat, he heard whispers begin to float along the hall. Most would have been too quiet for him to hear if he were a human, but he was not a human; he was a wolf. Many of the whispers were very unflattering, something about him having gone dark. Ashi found a seat between two older Slytherins and across from the blond boy from the robes shop.

The boys stared at him for a few seconds before the blond one spoke up. "You didn't tell me you were Harry Potter," he said.

"I'm not. I'm Ashi and you didn't ask," replied Ashi.

The boy stared at him some more. "They just said you're Harry Potter."

Ashi shrugged. "That's the name they call me. But they don't know anything about me. I'm Ashi. Don't call me anything else."

The boy folded his arms and said, "I thought you were supposed to be the savior of the wizarding world. That means you belong to the Light side. What are you doing here?"

Ashi shrugged again. "Hat said I would have the most influence here."

"Hah," laughed the boy sarcastically. "You won't have _any_ influence now that you're _here_."

Ashi placed his elbow on the table and rested his chin on his fist, looking bored. "You always have influence. Doesn't matter who you are, where you're from, who you're with, or where you are. By the way, you haven't told me what your name is."

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

"Well, Draco, nice to meet you."

He had decided to give Draco a second chance at a first impression. After all, at the robes shop, Draco could have been spouting all that nonsense just to impress someone who was also new to Hogwarts.

They didn't get a chance to say anything more, for Dumbledore had gotten up from his seat and stood with arms open wide and a big grin on his face. Ashi noticed that while he gave the impression of cheerfulness, the headmaster was incredibly pale and his hands were shaking just a bit. Although, whether that was normal for him or not, Ashi couldn't tell.

"Welcome," he said, "to a new year at Hogwarts. Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat back down amidst more clapping and cheering.

Ashi was now a bit worried about this school if its headmaster's first speech consisted of thirty words, the main four of which had absolutely nothing to do with wizardry or welcoming. Not to mention the man looked like he would keel over at any second.

He caught sight of Lily at the Head Table, staring down at her empty plate, looking just as pale as the Headmaster, but trying to keep a small smile from slipping off her face. He saw her heave a huge breath then looked up and searched the Great Hall for Ashi. The small smile grew when she saw him staring at her and she gave him a thumbs-up.

A black-haired man next to her leaned over and whispered something to her. She whispered something back and patted his arm reassuringly.

Ashi's attention was jerked away from the Head Table as food suddenly appeared on the golden plates in front of him. The students reached heartily for various dishes.

Ashi stared blankly at all of the _cooked_ food scattered around the table in front of him. While he could eat cooked food, it was not very healthy nor delicious. He had eaten the previous day which should have lasted him at least a day or two more, but now that he was going to put something like _that_ into his stomach _three times a day_ in order to maintain his human façade, that time frame would shorten considerably.

Ashi scrunched his nose a bit and reached for some roast duck and fruit. Several of his neighbors gave him funny looks at how little food was on his plate. A girl a few seats down from him gathered enough courage and asked him if he always ate so sparingly.

He nodded at her and replied, "Never had much of an appetite."

They left him alone after that.

The rest of dinner was rather uneventful, although the Bloody Baron made an appearance and shook his chains in several of the first years' faces.

Ashi finished his meal quickly and spent the rest of the time listening to the other Slytherins' conversations, fingering Toboe's bangle idly on his wrist.

Most of the older students were talking about how many mudbloods and blood traitors there were in Hogwarts. Ashi hadn't the faintest idea what they were talking about, but it didn't sound like they were complementing the other students. He quickly grew tired of such talk and started to listen to what the other first years were saying.

It seemed Draco and a girl next to him were having a competition to see who could name the most extravagant possession they had. The boy next to Draco, Blaise Zabini, the last one to be sorted, was talking to girl on his other side about the types of spells they would learn and the bit of magic each of their parents had taught them.

Surprisingly, no one spoke to Ashi. It seemed they were all eager to know why the Golden Boy had been sorted into the house that had produced more dark wizards than any other, but none were brave enough to try. For if the savior of the wizarding world, famous Light wizard Harry Potter, had actually been sorted into the Darkest House in Hogwarts, he must be the nastiest person on the planet.

Ashi himself had almost no clue why he was a Slytherin, besides what the hat had told him, so he was perfectly happy with the silent treatment. He knew most of his Housemates would abandon him as soon as they found out what he was anyway.

Once all desserts had been finished, the food and plates disappeared and Dumbledore stood up to speak, looking only a little bit less pale and shaky than he had during his welcoming speech.

"Now that we are all fed and watered, I have a few announcements to make. First years, as well as a few others, should note that the forest is forbidden to all students."

Dumbledore sneaked a peek at the Gryffindor table and Ashi saw a pair of red-headed twins grinning.

He ignored that warning as he knew he would be able to protect himself just fine against anything in that forest. Not to mention that was where his family was going to live during the school year.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has also asked me to remind you that no magic is allowed to be used in the corridors between classes. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term. Contact Madam Hooch if you are interested in playing for your House. And finally, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Ashi lifted one of his eyebrows and began wondering whether it would be wiser to heed the headmaster's warning or to go see what kind of danger would be living with him for nine months.

A few chuckles reverberated around the room from people who thought Dumbledore was joking.

"That's odd," said one of the older boys next to Ashi. "He usually gives us a reason to avoid some place."

Another boy down the table laughed quietly. "It's probably just a ruse to scare the first years," he said.

Ashi doubted that was the case and decided he would go there in a day or two to see what exactly he would be living with for the winter.

"And now," continued Dumbledore, pulling out his wand, "let us sing the school song!" He flicked the wand and a golden ribbon flew out the end and formed the words of the song. Everyone, except Ashi and quite a few of the other Slytherins, picked their favorite tune and sang. They all finished at different times; the red-headed Gryffindor twins finished last as they were singing to a very slow funeral march.

Dumbledore wiped a tear from his eye, muttered something about how beautiful that was, and sent them off to bed.

As one, the entire Great Hall—minus the professors—surged toward the huge double doors across from the Head table. All the Slytherins followed each other through the halls, separating quickly from the rest of the student body as they descended several flights of stairs in rapid succession.

They turned several corners and marched down more stairs to the dungeons; the air became colder the farther they traveled. Finally, they stopped at what looked for all the world like a normal dungeon wall. Everyone became quiet as they waited for something to happen.

At the front of the group, one of the older boys said loudly, "Pureblood." The wall shifted and a plain wooden door with an ornate handle appeared on the wall.

Ashi strode through the opening with the rest of his Housemates to find a rather cozy common room lit by silver lanterns. It had several couches and armchairs scattered around as well as quite a few tables and chairs for studying. A large fire in one wall kept the entire area toastily warm. On the wall next to the fire was a set of windows. At first, Ashi thought they were normal windows that looked out to some area of the grounds, but as he watched, a school of fish swam by and he realized that they looked out at the Lake.

"Boys' dormitory on the right, girls' to the left. Bathrooms down that corridor. This board will have any upcoming events as well as new passwords for the House. Passwords change monthly. Before you leave, our Head of House would like to say a few words."

Ashi turned to watch the boy who had shouted the password pointing down various corridors as he dictated instructions. As he finished his speech, the boy stepped to the side and a tall, thin man with black hair and a sharp nose stood, frowning, before them. Distantly, Ashi recognized him as the man Lily had been whispering with.

"Welcome, Slytherins," he said. "I shall get straight to the point. I don't care what petty quarrels you have amongst yourselves as long as you keep them within this common room. When we appear before the other Houses, we will remain united."

He paused for a moment and cast his gaze over the group before continuing, "That includes Potter."

Immediately, all eyes turned to Ashi. He felt several heated glares on his back as he raised his chin and said as politely as he could, "If you would, Sir, I would prefer not to be called Potter."

Professor Snape sneered at him as did several of the other Slytherins. "Oh? Is that so? What shall we call you then?" asked Snape.

"Simply Ashi will do," replied Ashi, trying not to look or sound naïve as he did so. He knew there wouldn't be very many who would call him by his preferred name. He had also noticed that professors as well as students, called each other by their last names and the fact that he technically did not have one would set back his goal of being called by his wolf name.

"Is there a reason why you do not wish to be called by your rightful name?" asked Snape.

Ashi tilted his head a bit as he thought of an answer. "I do not have anything against my adoptive parents, the Potters, but as I have left their care and have been called Ashi for the past eleven years, I wish to keep the name I have been given by my rightful family."

Professor Snape was speechless. Harry Potter adopted? Not possible.

"I have not heard anything about you being adopted, _Mr. Potter_ ," said Snape crossing his arms. "Would you care to tell me how you know for certain you are?"

The corner of Ashi's mouth lifted in a small smirk. "I know for certain, that I was adopted by the Potters. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you how I know, though. Especially in front of all the other students."

Snape blinked, then realized that they had been speaking freely to one another with the entire Slytherin population listening. He growled under his breath. "We will continue this conversation later."

The professor stalked off to another hallway next to the announcement board, leaving his students staring speechlessly at Ashi. Ashi waited for the Prefect to say something. When it became apparent he wasn't going to do anything but gawk, Ashi turned on his heel and walked up the staircase to the boys' dormitory.


	17. New Surroundings

Ashi's departure interrupted the trance of his housemates and they all broke off into groups; some boys hesitantly followed Ashi up the stairs, some girls made their way to their own dormitory, and the rest splayed out on the armchairs and gossiped.

Ashi made it up one flight of stairs until he saw a sign indicating the first years' floor. The other boys who had followed him continued silently up the staircase, but so far, he was the only first year in the corridor.

He turned into the hall and looked around. There were only two doors, so it was an extremely short hall with another window with an underwater view at the end. He looked at the green plaque on the left door, then the right. The silver cursive letters on the former read:

_Vincent Crabbe_

_Gregory Goyle_

_Theodore Nott_

The same cursive on the latter read:

_Draco Malfoy_

_Harry Potter_

_Blaise Zabini_

Now he _really_ hoped that the boy he would spend the next seven years with wasn't as bad a git as he had first seemed. Zabini had seemed alright, but Ashi hadn't spoken to him yet.

He heard voices coming up the stairs behind him so, unwilling to have another confrontation with someone that night, he turned the handle to his room and pushed the door open. He slipped through and shut the door quietly.

He saw three small, ornate four-poster beds arranged in a line parallel to each other. The bedspreads were green with silver embroidery and the bed curtains were a lighter green silk. There was a window looking out to the sea for each of the boys and, underneath it, a nightstand. A large wardrobe sat about a yard away from the foot of each bed.

Their luggage was already sitting on top of the beds and Sora hooted happily from her cage on the nightstand of the bed farthest from the door. Another owl, this one tawny, sat in a cage on the nightstand next to Ashi's bed. Its head had been tucked under its wing, but it had quickly pulled it out when Ashi opened the door. It stared nervously at Ashi as he walked past it to Sora, not making a sound so as to remain, hopefully, unnoticed by the wolf.

Ashi smiled a bit as he reached Sora and opened the little door to let her out. She flapped up to his shoulder and sifted a few strands of his hair through her beak affectionately. When she was finished, she glided to the sill of the window and looked out. She was by no means a dumb animal, so she quickly understood that she would not be able to fly through the window.

She turned around and made a mournful noise from the back of her throat at Ashi.

 _"_ _Yeah,"_ he said, chuckling a bit. _"It's a pretty view, though."_

 _"_ _I'd rather have a view from the sky,"_ said Sora.

Ashi smiled and stepped forward to stroke her feathers gently. _"I know. I'll get you out as soon as I can. Tomorrow morning maybe."_

Sora pouted a bit, then nipped his finger and flew back to her cage to sleep some more. Ashi had just finished latching her cage shut when he heard the dorm door squeak quietly open.

Draco Malfoy had just closed the door and was turning back around when he caught sight of Ashi staring at him. His cheeks turned a bit red before he walked confidently to the bed next to Ashi's, the one that had the tawny owl, and opened the trunk. He rummaged around for a bit, pulling out robes to hang in his wardrobe and some food for his owl.

When Ashi spoke, his voice was so quiet and the rustling of the clothes so loud that Draco almost didn't hear him.

"Why aren't you downstairs discussing with your friends my defiance?"

Draco paused, then turned around to face Ashi. "I don't know any of them, so they don't have any credibility."

Ashi crossed his arms and squinted his eyes suspiciously. "That's a lie. You know every one of those first years down there, and I'm sure you know some of the older students. They have plenty of credibility with you."

"Fine, then. Does it make you feel any better if I told you that I'd rather weasel the information I want straight from the source if I can rather than listen to some silly rumors that have no ground because the incident that caused them happened less than a minute before the rumor started?" asked Draco in one nervous breath. He was frazzled because no one, not even his father, had been so quick to call him out on a lie before.

Ashi relaxed his stance and smiled a small smile, but still managed to keep some sternness in his voice as he said, "Honesty always makes me feel better than being lied to. And lying is not a very good way to start a friendship. You were showing off when we first met, now you're lying. I'm giving you a second chance at a first impression, but you aren't doing a very good job of taking advantage of it."

Draco had to resist the urge to hang his head in shame. It felt like he was being scolded by his father! Instead, he decided to try a different approach. "Sorry," he said. "It's just the way I've been taught how to make friends. It's not like I like doing it."

"Ah. That's another lie, although not intentional. You don't really know if you like making friends this way. You just don't know any other way, so you're not sure if the uncomfortableness that you feel is normal or if you're not good enough at it to _not_ be uncomfortable."

It was Draco's turn to cross his arms and look stern. "What are you? My psychologist or my mum?"

Ashi ignored the comment and continued, "My… _brother_ told me to be myself and let the other person decide if they like me or not. If they do, we're friends. If they don't, we're either rivals or acquaintances."

"You make it sound like you haven't ever tried it before," said Draco.

Ashi shrugged. "I haven't really. We spend so much time moving around that I haven't had time to make a real friend."

"So that means I'm your first?"

Ashi thought about it for a bit. He had had a few friends before, but they were all magical creatures or wolves and he had never stayed around long enough to know them very well.

He nodded.

Draco gave him a small smile.

Just then the door opened and the two boys quickly went about unpacking their trunks. Blaise Zabini walked into the room, looked around, and grinned.

"Having a secret talk in here, boys?" he asked snidely as he flopped onto his own bed.

Draco scoffed. "You wish," he said.

* * *

Once Blaise had sufficiently interrogated Ashi about his House placement and name change—but gleaned no more information than Ashi had given earlier—the three boys got ready for bed and crawled under the covers to get some sleep before their first classes the next day.

Before long, soft snores and even breathing emanated from the other two beds, but Ashi was nowhere near asleep.

He waited long enough to make sure that both his roommates were deeply asleep, then climbed out of bed. He took off his pajamas, standing naked on the floor behind his bed curtains, and shifted into a wolf.

He had stripped before shifting because if he wore different clothes than the ones supplied by his human disguise, they would disappear. The pack had found this out when Kiba was convinced by Toboe to switch his black jacket for a jean jacket. Even Ashi thought Kiba looked good in it, but, before long, Kiba had to change from human to wolf and back again.

When he had, the jean jacket was gone and had been replaced with his usual black jacket. They had searched all around for the jean jacket, but it was nowhere to be found. Ashi didn't want to take a chance with any of his new clothes and thus decided to shift into a wolf naked. There was no fear of being in the same state when he changed back because his disguise would automatically provide him with his usual clothes.

Ashi fought the urge to shake his glossy, black fur—that would be loud enough to wake someone—and instead stretched, letting out a small moan as he did so. He had never been in his human form for so long before. It was very cramped and restricting and he was glad to be back to normal again.

He crept past the other boys' beds and to the door, his large paws thudding softly on the hardwood floors. Thankfully, the door had not been fully shut by Blaise when he came in, so Ashi easily nosed the door open. Cautiously, he peeked through the doorway. He glanced at the window end of the hallway before turning his attention to the staircase, listening for signs of life.

A small mouse that had been enjoying a morsel on one of the steps squeaked and disappeared into a hole in the stone, but otherwise the rooms were quiet. Relaxing a bit, Ashi walked the rest of the way out of the door and to the stairs, straining his ears for any human movement.

He made it to the bottom of the steps and was passing the last of the armchairs when he heard a door squeak open. Panicked, Ashi looked around for somewhere to hide. There was an armchair a few feet away, but he would have time to get his full bulk behind it before the quickly-approaching steps reached the common room. He shifted just in time for an older boy, the prefect to walk out of the bathroom corridor tying his bathrobe over his stomach.

He stopped when he saw Ashi and they stared at each other. During the few minutes of silence, Ashi realized he didn't have a very good excuse for being up so late. He could have said he was going to the bathroom, but he was facing nearly the opposite direction.

"What are you doing up?" asked the prefect.

Ashi decided to go with the innocent, lost first-year act. "I, um, couldn't remember which way the bathroom was."

The prefect tilted his head slightly up and to the side suspiciously. He could tell that wasn't really the reason the younger boy was up, but he didn't have any proof for anything otherwise. He jabbed his thumb behind him and said, "It's that way."

Ashi nodded his thanks and walked to the corridor the prefect had just come from. Just before he disappeared from view, the older boy called out to him.

"Hey, do you always sleep in muggle clothes like that?" he asked.

Ashi looked down at his clothes then back up at the prefect and shrugged. "Always helps to have one less thing to do if we have to move in the middle of the night."

"So you travel a lot?"

"Yeah."

"Where to?"

"Just about everywhere, I think. The forests in China are my favorite though."

The prefect looked at him oddly. "You like the dense forests filled with dangerous animals?"

Ashi cursed silently. Him and his big mouth. "Um. Yeah. It's…really quiet in there and…smells…fresh? I don't know how to explain it."

The prefect nodded but still didn't look like he believed the story. "Huh. You'll have to tell me about it some time."

Ashi nearly groaned out loud, but he managed a weak smile. "Sure," he said reluctantly.

The two stood there silently for a few more seconds before the prefect cleared his throat. "Ahem. Well, carry on," he said awkwardly. He turned toward the staircase and began climbing up it.

Ashi watched him leave, then went into the bathroom. No doubt the prefect would spend a few minutes on the stairs spying before he really went back to his room.

Once he was finished, Ashi poked his head out the door and looked back up the stairs for any sign of life. The prefect's scent was gone and there were no other sounds or smells. Ashi turned on his heel and headed to the door of the common room. He opened the door and listened for a few seconds then hopped down through the hole. He shifted and trotted down the hallway back toward the Great Hall. He had smelled trees on the way to the common room earlier and figured he may as well start searching there.

After heading down a couple wrong passages, Ashi finally found a hallway that led outside to a small meadow on the edge of the lake. He slunk next to the wall and peered around the corners in full moonlight. He could neither see nor smell any signs of life beyond the crickets chirping in the grass.

Relaxing his tensed muscles, he shook himself, then stretched. He trotted to the lake for a quick drink before sprinting into the Forbidden Forest with his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth and what could be called an excited, happy grin on his muzzle.

He ran through the trees, his paws thudding loudly on the dry leaves and twigs that littered the ground, loosening his muscles and ridding himself of all the tension and nervousness that had wracked his body the entire day.

It was a good ten minutes before he started to slow down, panting a little. He sat down underneath a giant oak tree to catch his breath before he threw his head back and howled for as long as he could. Just as he was running out of breath, he heard answering howls from his pack behind him and a little to his right.

Ashi stood up and began walking in the direction of the howls, searching for the rest of his family. Every few minutes, he howled again and changed course accordingly. Soon he heard the sound of thudding feet. Ashi walked into a little clearing and saw four wolves enter from the other side.

They circled around Ashi, panting heavily, and sniffed him a bit before continuing into the forest. Ashi turned around and followed them.

They explored the forest together silently as all except Ashi were far too tired and hungry to want to do anything other than eat and sleep. They spread themselves out to keep an eye out for a cave while they also searched for food; Kiba led the pack with Tsume and Hige a bit behind and to either side while Ashi and Toboe brought up the rear. At first, twigs snapped and leaves were shuffled loudly as the wolves tramped tiredly through the trees, stretching their tired muscles and resting their scathing lungs.

Soon, the scent of a boar tickled their noses and they spread out even further into their hunting formation. Tsume fell behind while Ashi circled around to one side and Toboe to the other. Kiba and Hige followed Ashi and Toboe although they would attempt to get in front of the boar.

As they got closer to their prey, they slowed down, careful to place their feet in places that would not alert the boar to their presence. They had made sure they were downwind of their prey so it would not smell them and bolt before they were ready.

Tsume could smell how close the boar was and cautiously moved forward some more. He poked his nose through the next set of bushes in front of him and spotted it shuffling in the dirt. It was large as far as normal boars were concerned, but it was still young. It was just the right age to have been without a herd for a while yet still young enough to not be able to defend itself very well.

Tsume lay down quietly to wait for the rest of his pack to get into position before they attacked. Several minutes passed as he watched the boar carefully. It lifted its head every few seconds to look around, but always went back to rooting.

Tsume waited patiently for the signal that his pack was ready. He knew Toboe and Ashi would be in position fairly quickly, but Kiba and Hige had to get far enough ahead of the boar for them to be able to confuse the boar so much that it would not notice the other two wolves it was running toward. Tsume was starting to get impatient, but he had to wait some more otherwise their plan would not work.

Suddenly, the boar jerked its head up and sniffed the air, smelling the wolves that were upwind. It grunted a bit, but before it could start running in a random direction, Tsume leaped out of his hiding place and snarled. The boar was facing him head-on so Tsume had a chance to snap at its legs before it had enough time to use its tusks.

The boar squealed and turned, swinging its head at Tsume and charging past him.

Ashi leaped up from his own hiding place and snapped and growled at the boar, driving it back toward the center of their group. Tsume pounced at it and the boar squealed and swung its head again at them before turning and running through the trees.

Tsume drove it on from behind while Ashi kept it from turning too far in his direction. Toboe joined them from his own hiding place and all three wolves bit and snapped at the boar to keep it moving in one direction.

After about 100 feet, they ran into another clearing; this one had an enormous oak tree standing in the middle of it. The boar skirted around the base of the tree to continue running but was intercepted by Kiba, who jumped out from behind the oak and straight onto the boar's neck.

He dug his claws into the boar's soft flesh to hang on and sank his sharp fangs deeply into the neck. The boar squealed and dived head-first into the dirt, flipping over once before coming to a stop on his side.

Kiba had jumped off when the boar tumbled to the ground but now all five wolves crowded to their kill and feasted.

* * *

 


	18. First Night

The wolves wandered back in the direction they had come, panting happily. As they walked, Toboe attempted to drill Ashi about his new school.

“Well?” he asked.

“Well, what?” asked Ashi.

“How was it?”

Ashi dipped in his head in a wolf’s imitation of a shrug. “It was alright, I guess. I think one of the prefects is suspicious of me, though.”

Toboe was confused. “What’s a prefect?”

Ashi grinned; he finally knew something the other wolves didn’t. “He’s supposed to make sure all the students follow the rules,” he said.

“Oh,” said Toboe.

“Did he see you come out?” asked Tsume.

Ashi shook his head. “No. I would have smelled him.”

“Then why are you worried?” asked Hige. “He’s got no reason to think anything bad about you, does he?”

“I ran in to him on my way out. We were still within the dorm room area, so I just said I was looking for the bathroom.”

“And?” asked Toboe.

“He showed me the bathroom, then asked me why I was wearing clothes so late at night. I told him it was easier to move if I was always dressed.”

“What about the rest of the school?” asked Toboe.

Ashi dipped his head again, kicking a rock with his paw. “Nothing interesting so far. They all eat cooked meat.”

The wolves all made sounds of disgust. Ashi grinned.

"That’s pretty much all we did tonight. We were sorted, then ate, then went to bed. Pretty boring.”

“Where were you sorted?” asked Kiba.

“Slytherin,” said Ashi. “The one that supposedly takes in the evil wizards. I don’t get it though. None of the wizards I’ve met so far have seemed very evil. All they want is power; who doesn’t? Sure, there are people who abuse that power, but anyone from any house could make that decision. All I’ve seen them do so far is put up an act. They just go along with each other.” Ashi parted his lips in a condescending sneer. “They sorted us using a talking hat and it told me I had a hard future ahead of me or something and that I would have the most influence in Slytherin. I think it wants me to change their ways.”

Toboe and Hige looked at each other; they had never heard Ashi rant like this before. They had hardly heard him say anything about the school before. Tsume chuckled under his breath and Kiba smiled as he looked back at his pack.

"You said they have a reputation for being bullies, right?” asked Kiba.

Ashi nodded

Kiba turned his gaze to the stars and continued, “There are different ways of maintaining power. The most commonly used one is tyranny, forcing your followers to obey you. It’s probably the worst way to go about it, but it’s the quickest. The other way is to gain your people’s love and respect. It’s more effective in the long run, but it takes a lot of time and effort to get it to the point where your followers will do anything for you. One of the first members probably chose the wrong way of portraying power and the rest followed his example.”

“And I’m supposed to get them to change what they’ve been doing for the las thousand years? Great. Any more impossible tasks for me to do?” Ashi asked sarcastically.

“Why is it so impossible?” asked Toboe. He knew perfectly well why it was so impossible, but he also knew that once all the obstacles were described aloud, they would be less intimidating.

Ashi glared at him. “Well, they all think I’m supposed to be some Light wizard god and they shouldn’t associate with me. Even my Head of House already hates me. Once they find out about me being a wolf, I’ll become some kind of alien on top of that.”

Toboe waited for Ashi to continue. “Is that all?” he asked.

Ashi though for a bit. “Well…yeah. Isn’t that enough?”

The other four wolves grinned at each other. Ashi scowled at them.

“It’s not funny,” he said.

“Sure, it is,” said Toboe. “You don’t have anything standing in your way. All you have to do is make some friends.”

“Great. Then we can be outcasts together.”

“Just watch, Ashi. It might not happen right away, but it will happen,” said Kiba.

“It’ll be alright, Ashi. Most of the humans I’ve met are nice,” said Toboe.

“Yeah, but they weren’t wizards,” said Hige.

“And did you forget about the nobles back home?” sneered Tsume.

Toboe interrupted them before they could go on. “Like I said. Most.”

Tsume huffed and Hige grinned.

By now they had reached the edge of the forest and could see Hogwarts. The wolves all sat down together to rest and look around them at their new home.

“That’s pretty ritzy, Ashi,” said Toboe.

Ashi scoffed. “Not really,” he said. “It’s old fashioned, damp, and moldy inside. They use candles and torches so it’s unnecessarily hot and eternally smells of smoke. Kind of stuffy too.” He paused for a moment before continuing sheepishly. “But otherwise it’s alright.”

Kiba stood up and shook himself before walking forward a few yards to the edge of the lake. He looked around one last time before lowering his head to drink. The other wolves waited a few moments, searching for danger, before mimicking Kiba. Ashi stayed behind, watching them.

Once they were finished with their drinks, they turned back to the forest to look for a cave some more. They finally found one far enough from the edge of the wood that they wouldn’t be discovered, but not far enough that it would become a long journey to meet each other. With four of the wolves still exhausted, they lay down in the warm interior to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, Ashi woke early and left the rest of his pack to return to the castle before any of the humans noticed he was missing. Toboe and Hige were both sound asleep; Hige was snoring rather loudly, so Ashi could tell exactly how tired he was. Kiba was as silent as ever, but he didn’t wake when Ashi walked by him. Tsume slowly slid open one eye to watch Ashi leave, but closed it immediately after he realized who was invading his personal space.

The short run back to the castle was refreshing and finished waking Ashi up. He stopped at the edge of the lake for a drink before he went inside. He made his way through the halls, following his own scent back to the dungeons.

When he reached the door, he changed back to his human form and whispered, “Pureblood.” The door appeared and swung open quietly and Ashi tiptoed inside. He looked around cautiously. As expected, no one was awake yet and Ashi quickly made his way up the stone stairway to his dorm.

He slipped into the room and to his bed. As he climbed, rather noisily, on top of the messy covers, he realized that he had no idea what to do now. He could see the sun starting to invade the depths of the lake outside his window. Normally, the rest of the pack would be up and ready to start their journey by this time. He hoped the rest of the students would wake up soon.

No such luck; the other two boys still slept soundly. Ashi sat on his bed and basically twiddled his thumbs for a few minutes before he got bored and reached under his bed for his trunk.

His arm shuffled around a bit before he found what he was looking for and pulled out a book. Now, just because he hadn’t read his school book didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in learning. He just wasn’t interested in learning something he would be taught later on. Because he was rather isolated from the human world, he had needed to learn about it the only way he could: by reading.

Ashi used every opportunity he could to read anything he could get his hands on. He had learned much about the non-magical world, but now that he had been introduced to an entirely new society, one that seemed to have a completely different way of life, he had brand new subjects to learn about.

He had amassed quite a collection during their visit to Floretts and Blotts. He had found some history books, some on advanced potion making and transfiguration. There were a few on Astrology, Divination, and Rune reading and he had even found one on the Dark Arts. The one that was by far his favorite though was one on creatures like himself: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. He had several other magical creature books, but he found this one to be the most detailed.

This was the book he pulled out of the trunk. It was the largest book he had ever seen, both in height and volume, but he didn’t mind. He was determined to read through the entire thing, cover to cover, without skipping a single creature, which were arranged in alphabetical order **(I have never read this book, nor even seen it, so this is based on my imagination and the list provided by harrypotterwikia)**.

His original desire was simply to learn, but he another hope: to find out more about the magical wolves and, if possible, Paradise.

He flipped through the pages until he found his place and soon lost himself in the world of Bowtruckles and Centaurs. He hadn’t been reading nearly long enough when he was interrupted as Draco groaned and turned over in his bed.

Ashi looked over at him and watched as Draco’s eyes slowly fluttered open. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Draco sat up and mumbled a, “Mornin’.”

Ashi nodded back at him and turned back to his book.

Draco sat on the edge of his bed rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Before Ashi had read another paragraph, Draco spoke again, this time a little more clearly.

“How long you been up?” he asked.

Ashi looked out the window and noted the sunlight in the lake before answering. “’Bout an hour, I guess.”

Draco gaped at him, now full awake.

“You get up _that_ early?” he asked, dumbfounded.

Ashi nodded. “We get up with the sun.”

“How in the world do you get enough sleep?” he asked suspiciously.

Ashi grinned, showing off his teeth. “You’d be surprised how little sleep I need.”

Draco shook his head in amazement. “You’re weird.”

“Never said I wasn’t,” replied Ashi as he returned to his book.

Draco continued to sit on his bed for a few seconds before he stood up and stretched. He walked over the Blaise’s bed and shook his shoulder.

“Hey,” he said. “Wake up.”

Blaise moaned into his pillow, “It’s summer, Mum. Why do I have to get up?”

Draco scowled, then smirked and leaned down to whisper tauntingly in Blaise’s ear. “It’s not summer and I’m not your mum, so wake up or you’ll miss class.”

Blaise’s head shot up and Draco stumbled backwards to avoid getting hit.

Ashi giggled silently.

“Hey!” complained Draco. “Watch it! I’m not going to wake you up every day if you’re going to do that.”

“Sorry,” mumbled Blaise. He moaned as he turned over to his back and stretched. “What time is it?” he asked.

Draco fumbled around on his dresser and held up an antique watch. He pressed a button on the watch and the cover sprang open.

“6:17,” he said.

Blaise moaned again. “Oh, Merlin, Draco. Why are we up so early? Breakfast isn’t until eight.”

“Well, the rest of the house is going to be getting up and using the bathrooms. Do you really want to brush your teeth with thirty other people shoving you?” asked Draco

“I guess not,” mumbled Blaise into his pillow.

“Then get up. Ashi’s already ready to go.”

Blaise mumbled something into his pillow again, but Draco ignored him. He pulled out a fresh set of clothes from his wardrobe and grabbed a smaller bag. He marched out the door without looking back at either of them.

Blaise continued to lay face-down on his bed for a few more minutes before he groaned again and sat up. He yawned stretched his arms. Finally, he turned his head and noticed Ashi.

“Mornin’, Ashi,” he said.

“Hmm,” replied Ashi.

Blaise fidgeted on his bed, clueless as to what to say. Ashi kept reading. After a few seconds, Blaise yawned again and got out of bed. He grabbed a change of clothes from his own wardrobe and left the room.

Ashi continued to read for quite a while before he became distracted by waiting for his roommates to come back. He was used to running around by this time of day. All this sitting around was making him edgy. He decided to pass the time by unpacking the rest of his stuff and sorting out his side of the room.

When Draco and Blaise finally came back, Ashi had finished Centaurs, unpacked, and went back to reading about Chimeras **(really, the next entry, according the alphabetical list on harrypotterwikia, was chicken, but why would they have them in a wizarding book?)**. It amazed him how much time it took both boys to get ready for their day.

Draco immediately went to his wardrobe and hung his nightclothes neatly in his wardrobe. Blaise simply threw his clothes on his bed. Ashi finished his page, then stood up from where he was sitting on his bed and placed the book on his nightstand.

“Ready, Ashi?” asked Draco.

Ashi rolled his eyes. “I never knew it took humans so long to get dressed. It’s no wonder you never get anything done.”

Draco scowled. “Hey, I know plenty of other people who take even longer. And what do you mean about ‘humans’? Aren’t you a human too?”

Ashi’s heart started thumping loudly in his chest, but he answered smoothly, “ _I_ don’t take an hour and a half to change clothes.”

Blaise grinned. “That just means you don’t take care of yourself properly.”

“How do you know you’re taking care of yourself? Maybe you’re hindering some important bodily function,” said Ashi.

“Enough!” shouted Draco. “Who cares how long someone takes as long as they get where they’re supposed to be on time. Now, let’s go.”

Draco walked to the door, then stopped before he opened it.

“Hey,” he said. “What do you think we should do with the owls?”

Ashi looked back at Sora, who was glaring at him hatefully as he had almost forgotten about her. “I guess we should take them with us so we can let them out,” he replied with a shrug.

Draco nodded and walked back to his nightstand to pick up his owl’s cage. He led the way out the door and down the staircase. Blaise watched Draco walk out the door before he followed. Apparently, Blaise hadn’t brought any pets.

Ashi picked up Sora’s cage and followed them down the stairs. They were greeted by the babble of many voices. Several other boys and girls were in the common room, either chatting with each other on the couches, waiting for breakfast, or running between the bathroom and dorm rooms in various combinations of day and night clothes. Several other students had had the same idea as Ashi; owls in cages were sitting next to armchairs and tables all around the room. A few cats slinked around on bookcases or were napping in laps. There was even a toad that was hopping around underneath a table.

Draco immediately led the way to a group of students sitting on the couches.

“Mornin’, Draco,” said one of the older students.

A first-year girl pouted. “I thought you were never going to be ready, Draco,” she whined.

“You take even longer than I do, Pansy,” said Draco as he sat down in an armchair, placing his owl next to the chair.

Blaise plopped down on one of the couches next to Pansy, flinging his arms out to either side, and sighed.

Pansy turned her nose up at him. “You have no manners, Blaise,” she said.

Blaise grinned at her. “Never had, never will. I’m not my father, Pansy.”

Ashi stood at the bottom of the stairs for a few seconds and watched them before decided he might as well join them. Before he could take more than a few steps, however, he heard his name being called, well, his human one anyway.

"Harry Potter,” sneered a droning voice from across the room. Instantly the entire room fell silent and the students’ eyes fell to either Ashi or the speaker.

Ashi wanted to ignore the summons, but knew if he did, he would be in even more trouble. So, he turned slightly and asked, “Yes, Professor Snape?”

“Headmaster Dumbledore and I would like to speak to you before breakfast, if you wouldn’t mind,” sneered Snape.


	19. Discussions

****He made it sound like it was a request that Ashi could refuse, but they both knew the consequences would be dire if he did.

“Of course, Professor,” said Ashi. He walked over to Draco’s chair and held up Sora’s cage in a questioning manner.

Draco sighed and said, “Alright. I’ll take care of it.”

Ashi gave him a quick smile in gratitude, then set Sora next to Draco’s owl. He turned to find Professor Snape glaring at him. Ashi could feel every eye in the common room on him as he walked out the common room door with Snape. Neither professor nor student said a word to each other as they made their way up through the dungeons and to the main floor.

On their way to the headmaster’s office, they passed a few teachers with handfuls of papers or books, but otherwise the castle could have been deserted. Ashi guessed most of the student were relishing in the last few minutes of free time before school officially started with breakfast. He himself would have liked to begin as soon as possible. After all, the sooner they began, the sooner they were finished.

Ashi tried to remember where they went as they waked but soon lost track of how many turns they made and moving staircases they climbed. After a long, tense silence, they finally arrived at a statue of a griffin.

“Lemon drops,” murmured Snape.

Ashi sniggered quietly behind his professor as the griffin began rotating, revealing a stairwell.

Professor Snape climbed the stairs with a swish of his robe and Ashi followed silently. When they reached the top of the stairwell, Snape knocked on a pair of doors that were about half the size of those leading to the Great Hall. Ashi heard Dumbledore’s voice call out softly, “Enter,” and they did.

The headmaster’s room was undoubtedly the oddest Ashi had seen yet. Several tables and chairs littered the room, all piled high with various old books and trinkets that puffed smoke and twittered. The walls were littered with the portraits of previous headmasters. Some were sleeping, leaning against their frames in a way that made their faces look squished. On the other side of the room stood a claw-footed desk, piled with more books, trinkets and papers.

Dumbledore sat behind the desk in a high-backed, heavily-cushioned chair scribbling furiously at one of the pieces of paper. Behind the headmaster was a bookshelf, on top of which sat the Sorting Hat.

Ashi noticed the Hat at once and had to resist the urge to growl at it. _It_ was the reason Ashi had to go through so much trouble just because it had sorted him into a house other people weren’t expecting. Apparently, the hat noticed Ashi as well, for it tilted one side of its tip in what Ashi could only guess was a wink. Or perhaps a nod of acknowledgment.

There was movement on the opposite side of the room that drew Ashi’s attention. Lily and James Potter and just stood up from a pair of chairs set a few feet away from the Headmaster’s desk. Lily look a bit worried and James looked somewhere between livid and confused.

Professor Dumbledore looked up as the Snape and Ashi approached his table and smiled.

“Ah,” he said, putting down his quill and folding his hands together. “Hello, Mr. Potter.”

Ashi dipped his head but said nothing.

Snape looked down at Ashi and sneered, “I believe he prefers the name Hashy, Sir.”

“Hey!” shouted James, leaning more toward the livid side of his current mood. “You have no right to criticize _my_ son, Snivellus.”

“James, enough,” snapped Lily. “We’re not here to continue the petty squabbles you two had when you were in school. We’re here about Ashi.”

Dumbledore looked surprised. “Well, that is an unusual name. Why did you choose that one, Harry?”

Ashi ground his teeth as he said, “My name is Ashi, Sirs, and it was given to me by my family.”

Dumbledore waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Nonsense. Your name is Harry Potter. Your parents chose it for you, as proven with the birth certificate. Everyone knows you as Harry Potter.”

“Then they know someone else,” said Ashi, “for I am not Harry Potter.”

“Now, Harry—” Ashi shot her a glare. “erm, Ashi, just because you have a different name doesn’t mean you’re a different person.”

Ashi widened his stance and crossed his arms. “Apparently I am because Harry Potter is the kid who saved the world. I’m just a regular kid who happens to have magic abilities.”

James knelt down in front of Ashi. “Why don’t we make a compromise? Why don’t you be both—you could be a hero _and_ you could be a regular kid. After all, everyone knows that what happened happened when you were just a baby.”

“Even so, once a hero, always a hero,” replied Ashi.

“Well, it is my understanding, Ashi,” continued James as though he hadn’t heard Ashi’s quip, “that you want to be normal, as normal as possible, right?”

Ashi eyed him suspiciously. “Yes,” he replied cautiously.

“Well, then. I predict that you will be less—ah—strange if you transfer Houses. What do you say, hmm? Gryffindors would be friendlier and you’ll be among many families that have had heroic pasts so yours would be a little less noticeable. You stand out a little more in Slytherin, not because you defeated Voldemort—although that is a factor—but because you come from a family of Gryffindors.”

Ashi snorted. “I do not come from a family of Gryffindors. As far as I know, none of my family even had magical powers.”

“What are you talking about, Ashi?” asked Lily. She also knelt in front of Ashi. “Of course you’re from a Gryffindor family. I was in Gryffindor and so was your father, and his father before him.”

Ashi lifted his lip in a slight snarl. “You’re going to keep up this charade of being my parents forever, aren’t you? You think I don’t know about the Blood Adoption. Well, guess what? I do. It doesn’t matter that magic made us related; you’re not my parents and you don’t know the first thing about me and my family. You had a chance to become that family a long time ago and you blew it.”

Lily’s eyes were watering by the time he’d finished his rant and James’s face had darkened. He stood up slowly, towering over Ashi with a scowl on his face. “Now you listen here. We found you abandoned by your ‘family’ and we took you in. We could have left you out in the cold to freeze to death, but we didn’t. We had no idea who you were, where you came from, or even _what_ —” James paused, shut his mouth, and opened it again to continue. “But none of that mattered because all we saw was a child who was cold and hungry and _dying_. So don’t you lecture us about not being your family.”

Ashi’s heart had sped up at James’s slip up and he was almost too shocked to make a retort. _Did the Potters know what Ashi really was?_ In a split-second, Ashi decided he couldn’t worry about it now. “So you found me. So what? Anyone could have done that. That doesn’t matter. You don’t know how I’ve grown up, what sort of person I am, or even what my favorite _color_ is.”

“That may be so,” said Professor Snape silkily, “but they are the ones paying for your schooling. You should at least show them a little…respect.”

“Enough,” huffed Lily loudly, wiping at her eyes. She was still kneeling and now she put both hands on Ashi’s shoulders. He stiffened, but she ignored that. “Listen, Ashi. James is right. When we found you, we didn’t know anything about you, but we wanted to. We adopted you because we wanted you. I—” She paused to clear her throat. “I was heartbroken—we both were—when you disappeared after the attack. You have to believe us. We searched for you for months. We had _everyone_ looking for you, but we just couldn’t find you. We tried every spell we could think of, but none of them worked.”

Lily paused and laughed a little. “And then you replied to your Hogwarts letter. I’d never been so happy before.” She sniffed a little and looked down. “I know…we haven’t been the best of parents to you, but please…give us a second chance.”

Ashi stepped back out of Lily’s grip and stared hard at the Potters. “You say you want to know me now. Then let me make my own choices. It’s obvious this isn’t what you want.” He glanced at Snape and Dumbledore. “This isn’t what any of you want, is it? But it’s what _I_ want. If you want to learn about me, start by respecting my decisions for a while to learn what I’m like, what I like, and how I behave.”

“No,” said James stiffly.

Ashi glared. So did Professor Snape. Dumbledore simply looked at them neutrally over his spectacles.

Lily stood up and reached out to her husband placatingly. “James—”

“No. Lily—”

“James, come here for a minute, will you?”

She herded James over to a corner. “Please, James,” she whispered. “If we deny him this, he’ll never accept us.”

“I don’t care,” hissed James. “He’s not going to live in Snivellus’s House. Can imagine what they’d do to him in there? He’ll never survive the week, let alone _seven years_.”

"You don’t know that, James. We don’t know anything about him…except you-know-what. He just might be strong enough to live there.”

James turned away from her and pinched his nose, placing his other hand on his hip. He heaved a heavy sigh then turned back to her, gesticulating with that hand that had been on his nose. “I—I just don’t want him to get hurt, Lily, and he’s going to if he stays in Slytherin.”

“But James—”

“Look, I get it, Lily. You’re the mother; you’re supposed to smother him in love and kisses and that’s fine. But that means I’m the father. I have to be the one to tell him ‘no’. I have to be the one to discipline him.”

Lily opened her mouth to protest again, but James cut her off.

“Now, don’t start thinking I like doing this, but someone’s got to.”

Lily shook her head softly. “I’d never think that, James.” She smiled. “You’d _never_ be capable of enjoying giving someone punishment. But if we don’t let him have this chance, he’ll never trust us or respect our decisions for him in the future.”

James shook his head. Lily continued before he could voice more concerns.

“What about a truce? What if we let him stay in Slytherin for, say, a week and see how he does?”

James sighed again and thought about it for a few seconds. “…Alright,” he relented. He held up a finger for emphasis. “Just one week. If he get hurt or picked on or in trouble because off some snot-nosed brat even once, I’m moving him, with or without your or his permission.”

Lily smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Deal.”

Together, they turned back to their company. All three were staring at them unabashedly. Lily knelt before Ashi again and smiled at him.

“How about this, Ashi,” she said. “You can stay in Slytherin for the rest of the week, then we’ll come back and talk about this again. Does that sound alright?”

No, that did not sound alright, but Ashi was done arguing with them about this. He was starting to get irritated—and he never argued well when he was irritated—and he had a feeling it was getting pretty late; classes would be starting soon. So, he simply growled deep in his chest and snarled, “Fine. Sure. Can I go now?”

Lily looked up at Professor Dumbledore, for reassurance or permission Ashi couldn’t tell, and nodded to him. “Yeah. Enjoy your first day of classes.”

Ashi flashed a genuine smile at Lily before he could stop himself. “Thank you.” He sidestepped her and marched through the office doors without looking at any of the other adults.

* * *

As soon as the door clicked shut after Ashi’s departure, Dumbledore turned to the Potter couple.

“Lily, my dear,” he said sweetly.

“I know, I know,” interrupted Lily. “We were supposed to convince him to switch to Gryffindor, but…I just…want him to be happy. If he wants to try Slytherin for a bit, why shouldn’t he?”

“I’m afraid I must agree with James,” said Dumbledore. “It’s very dangerous for young Harry to stay with the Slytherins. Several of their families were under suspicion of following Voldemort.”

“You think I don’t know that?” asked Lily hotly. “I was there Dumbledore. I helped fight him. I know the names of every convicted and suspected Death Eater there ever was. I don’t really want him there either, but he’s never going to trust our decisions if we don’t let him experience failure when he rebels.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“Indeed,” said Snape. “He’ll never realize his decision was wrong and theirs was right if he doesn’t experience it for himself.”

James sneered at Snape, irritated that he was helping them and being right about it at the same time.

“Besides,” continued Lily. “Severus will be around to help him, right?”

Snape hummed in agreement and Dumbledore sighed. “Alright,” he said. “You will let me know his decision at the end of the week?”

“Of course, Sir. Thank you.”

Dumbledore nodded. “Good. Now, I believe you two have a few classes to teach today, and James has several criminals to apprehend.” He smiled and made a shooing motion with his hand.

Lily and Severus nodded politely and exited through the doors. James remained behind.

“Dumbledore,” began James, “if Ashi decides to stay in Slytherin at the end of the week…there’s no telling which side he’ll choose if another Voldemort arises.”

“Yes, I know, my boy,” replied Dumbledore, folding his hands under his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t think he will choose to stay, though.”

James quirked an eyebrow. “Really? How come?”

Dumbledore smiled. “Oh, I just do. Now, you really must be getting to the Ministry. They’ll be wondering where you are.”

“I sent them a Patronus last night so they know I’ll be in late. Thank you, though.”

“Anytime, my boy.”

James stepped over to the lit fireplace embedded into one wall, grabbed a handful of powder from the jar next to it, and disappeared in a flash of green light.

* * *

When Ashi had left the Headmaster’s office, he had every intention of returning to the Great Hall, but as soon as he stepped off the Griffin staircase, he realized he had almost no idea where he was. His own scent still lingered in the halls, but that would only lead him back to the dungeons. No one would be there now. Of course, there would be a heavy scent trail as the student went to the Great Hall for breakfast, so…

Ashi started down the long corridor that lead to the Griffin staircase, intent on going back to the dungeons first, then finding his way to the Great Hall from there. He had just reached the end of the corridor and was turning left when he heard Lily’s voice far behind him.

“Ashi!” she called.

He stopped and debated on waiting for her for a few seconds before he stuck his head back around the corner and looked at her pointedly. Professor Snape was by her side staring back him gloomily.

“Where are you going?” asked Lily, continuing down the hall as she talked. “The Great Hall is the other way. Why don’t you come with us? We’re going there too.”

He squinted at her silently, trying to decide if getting to the Great Hall sooner was worth spending more time with her. He huffed through his nose and stepped back into the long corridor to wait for the Professors. He trailed along behind them when they finally caught up.

They walked in silence for a while, through a left turn, then a right, and down a short staircase before Lily cleared her throat and said, “So, Ashi, um, which class are you looking forward to the most?”

He thought about it. He hadn’t really considered which class he would enjoy the most. To him, they were all just ways for him to learn more. In a way, he was looking forward to all of them.

"Transfiguration,” he said finally. It was true…sort of. He wasn’t really looking forward to it more than any other class, but he was intrigued by the process of turning one thing into another. It was rather like the wolves’ own transformation.

“Ooh, that’s a good one. Professor McGonagall is a good teacher, too, although she can be rather strict at times.”

“You do not like potions?” asked Professor Snape quietly.

Ashi shrugged. “Sounds a lot like cooking. It’s not really…new.” Technically, it was new since none of the wolves liked cooked meat, but cooking was a common pastime for humans, so it would make sense that Potions would not be very interesting for many other students. Therefore, it would not be interesting to him.

“Yeah, I suppose,” said Lily. “I suppose that’s why I’m so good at potions. I used to do a lot of cooking when I was younger, still do.”

Ashi nodded politely and they lapsed into silence again.

As short as their conversation was, they reached the doors of the Great Hall not a full minute later. Ashi stepped in front of the professors and turned slightly to face them. He inclined his head in thanks and darted into the loud, bright room.

He made his way over to the Slytherin table where he could just see a head of white-blonde hair. There were no empty seats near Draco, but as Ashi approached, a few students suddenly stood up and left the room. Ashi simply sat down in one of them, trying to ignore the implications of his Housemates’ actions.

“Ashi!” exclaimed Draco in surprise when he noticed him a few seconds later. “What were you doing this whole time? You almost missed breakfast and you certainly missed the schedules.”

Ashi wilted a bit. He had missed his schedule. Now he had to go ask Lily for help…or Professor Snape. He was his head of House after all, right? Maybe he would have Ashi’s schedule.

“Quit being a bore, Draco,” said Blaise across the table. “Give him his schedule and bag already.”

Draco pouted, haughtily, if that was possible and reached under the table. He fumbled around for a bit, then actually ducked his head to stare at the floor. He popped back up with a scowl on his face.

“Alright,” he called. “Which one of you wise guys stole the bag that was under here?”

No one answered him, but several giggled behind their hands.

Draco glared harder. Ashi looked around as well to see if he could spot anyone acting suspicious.

“Come one, you guys,” whined Blaise. “That’s not cool. You heard what Professor Snape said last night. We’re supposed to be united outside of the common room; even to him.” He pointed at Ashi.

“Yeah? So what?” asked a third-year a few seats away from Draco. “He just said that so we would be nice to Potter. Everyone knows he used to be sweet on his mum. They probably just sent him here to spy on us.”

“He’s been _gone_ for the last nine years, or haven’t you heard?” snapped Blaise.

“You took it, didn’t you?” asked Draco.

The third-year sneered. “So what if I did? What’cha gonna do about it? Run to daddy?”

Draco bristled. “I don’t have to to deal with a loser like you.”

Beside them, Ashi stood up silently, using the third-year’s distraction to sneak behind him and reach under his bench. It wasn’t hard. Several other students were milling about now, either watching the verbal fight or leaving the Great Hall to go to class. Ashi simply slipped into the moving crowd passing them.

He pulled out a sliver-lined green bag and sneaked back to his seat. He waited a few seconds before he held up his prize and asked nonchalantly, “Is this what you’re looking for, Draco?”

Draco turned to look at him, face turning red with anger, and dropped his mouth open in shock; so did the third-year. Blaise started laughing.

The third-year clenched his teeth and reached down to feel under his bench to make sure the bag wasn’t a fake. His face started to turn red in embarrassment and anger. Most of the other Slytherins had started ignoring their conversation once they realized the victim was outsmarting the bully. With no other ammunition to use against Ashi, the third-year stood up and stomped out of the hall, kicking Ashi’s legs as he passed.

Ashi ignored him in favor of answering Draco and Blaise’s questions about his time in the Headmaster’s office.

“Soo,” started Draco. “What did they want?”

Ashi shrugged nonchalantly. “They wanted to move me to Gryffindor.”

Blaise’s face scrunched up. “Really? Why would they want you over there? The had said you’re supposed to be in Slytherin.”

Ashi nodded in agreement, but Draco snorted before he could say anything. “They want him over there because Daddy’s the Gryffindor Golden Boy because of him. He’s supposed to follow in his footsteps now.”

“Why can’t they just let him do what he wants? Technically, he’s not their kid anymore even. He disappeared for nine years.”

Ashi curled his lip in distaste. “I was never theirs to begin with. They adopted me.”

Draco looked Ashi up and down. “Then why do you look so much like them. You’re like the spitting image of Potter.”

“They used a Blood Adoption on me.”

Draco and Blaise exchanged blank looks. “What’s that?” they asked simultaneously.

“They adopted me and magic made me look like them.”

Blaise grinned. “I wonder what you’d look like without it, then.”

Ashi shrugged. “No clue. Ask them.”

“No, thank you,” said Blaise, raising his hands in submission. “They’d blow me off for being in the ‘Dark House.’”

Draco chomped down on another bite of his breakfast, then rummaged around in his robes for a few seconds. He pulled out a sheet of parchment, read it, and handed it to Ashi.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“Your schedule. Professor Sprout handed them out to us while you were gone. It’s almost time for our first class, which is,” Draco glanced down at a second schedule next to his plate, “Charms, so you better hurry if you want any breakfast.”

Ashi shook his head. “Not hungry,” he said. “Not after that.”

Draco nodded in understanding, forked the last bit of eggs into his mouth, and stood up.

Ashi shoved the schedule into the bag he had nabbed from the third-year. The Slytherin crest and, below it, the initials HP were embroidered on the flap of the bag. Ashi looked down under the table at Draco’s bag. It was exactly the same except the initials were DM instead of HP.

“Let’s go. Farley’s supposed to show us the way to our first class and we have to get our books.”

Blaise leaned back and groaned, “Already? I haven’t finished told Ashi about your first time on a broom.”

Draco’s cheeks tinged red. “W-who cares about that. If we don’t hurry and get our books and be back in time, she’ll leave without us.”

Blaise grinned then stood up, pulling another empty book bag from under the table and waving it around. “I guess we’re the only ones that didn’t bring our books to breakfast, eh?” he asked.

One of the boys next to him laughed and said, “Naw. The rest of us just don’t bother. Hardly ever need books on the first day and even if you do, the teacher’ll just give you the evil eye and tell you not to forget your books tomorrow. Except McGonagall. She’ll whack your hand with her wand. One time, she even made one kid got to his dormitory to get his book, then gave him extra homework.”

The boy grinned like it was no big deal, but Blaise paled. “Extra homework?” he asked, then draped the bag over his shoulder. “Better go get those books, then. Come on, Draco, Ashi.” He marched past them and led the way out the Great Hall. Draco and Ashi grinned at each other before following their roommate.


	20. Bullies

The next few days were a bit of a blur for Ashi as he got used to attending classes and doing homework. As he spent most of his free time studying diligently, Ashi never really met most of his housemates and only got to know Draco and Blaise because they were his roommates. They seemed to like him as they started to spend a lot of time with him. Then again, they had all of their classes together, so they might have just happened to be at the same place at the same time.

But there was one incident that happened not four days into classes that strengthened the growing friendship between the three boys—and deepened the animosity Ashi felt toward the Potter couple.

Most of the students tended to outright avoid Draco due to his father’s influence (that or buddy up to him), but there were a few, either brave or ignorant, that would pick fights with him.

That day, Ashi had stayed behind in potions class for a few minutes to help his tablemate clean up some spilled Beetle’s Eyes from their lesson. They both finished at the same time, but Ashi was the last to leave the classroom because the other wasn’t tall enough to reach the shelf the Beetle Eyes were stored on.

He could have asked Snape to put it away for him, but the Professor tended to sneer and grumble irritably if he was interrupted when he was preparing for his next lesson in the adjoining office. So, being slightly taller, Ashi had elected to stand on tip toe and reach as far above his head as he could to put the small jar away while his tablemate scurried out the door, eager to reach the Great Hall for lunch.

Once the jar had slid far enough back that he was sure it wouldn’t fall, Ashi took a step back and let out the breath he had been holding in an unconscious attempt to make himself taller. He hated standing on his toes; it made him feel so small.

He walked back to his desk and picked up his pack, sifting through it to make sure he had everything as he walked out the door. He took his time as he walked through the huge halls, savoring the quiet that filled the passages when all of the students were gathered in the Great Hall and the teachers were preparing their next lessons.

It didn’t last long, though.

After Ashi had turned two corners and climbed three sets of stairs, he started hearing voices. They weren’t speaking loudly, obviously trying to avoid attention. But standing in one of the most-used corridors that led from the Potions classroom back to the Great Hall kind of kept their secrecy to a minimum. Still, Ashi dreaded having to walk past them. They would most likely have some kind of remark to make about him, but not necessarily to him, like most of the students he passed.

Ashi slowed down, hoping in vain that they would leave before he reached them. He sighed in dismay as he realized they were right around the next turn. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw who it was.

Draco and Blaise were facing off two seventh-year Gryffindor boys in a rather heated argument. They were both tall, a good foot taller than either Slytherin. One had dark brown hair and the other had a lighter shade of brown with a few naturally-red streaks. They both had visible muscle but it was the kind of muscle that came from showing off, not actually training.

Blaise was, of course, trying to joke his way out of the fight, but Draco’s face had already turned a light shade of red.

The Gryffindors were grinning teasingly at both of them, but Ashi could tell it wasn’t a good kind of teasing.

“Come on. Derek just needs a new bag. He’s had this one forever,” said one Gryffindor.

The second grinned and held up a perfectly good-looking bag, dangling it in front of the Slytherins’ faces and pointing out a few stains and loose threads.

“Yeah,” he said. “And your father will just get you a new one. Right, Jake?”

“Oh, I’m sure,” replied the other. “He’s so rich and famous, there must be hundreds of bag-sellers crawling all over each other to get him to buy their stuff.”

Draco crossed his arms, trying—and failing—to look intimidating. “And what am I supposed to tell him when he asks why I need a new bag?” he asked.

The two Gryffindors looked at each other and shrugged nonchalantly.

“How are we supposed to know?” said the first one, Jake.

“Tell ‘im the giant squid reached out and took it. Tell him it wanted to learn too!” added the second and started laughing.

Blaise grinned too, taking advantage of the relaxedness of the bullies. “Ok,” he said, “we’ll tell him that, but what about the colors of the bag. Don’t you think it’ll look suspicious if you start carrying around a green and silver bag with the Slytherin crest and initials that aren’t yours on it?”

The bigger boys immediately stopped laughing and stared at Blaise.

“Are you an idiot?” asked Derek.

“What do you think these are?” asked Jake, taking out his wand and waving it in front of himself. “It’s easy enough to change the colors, so just hand them over like good little chaps now or we might be forced to…mmm…rough ya up a bit. Yeah?”

Draco almost visibly bristled. “If you do the slightest thing to us, my father—”

“Ooooh,” taunted Jake. “The wittle baby’s gonna wun home to daddy. ‘Daddy, help me!’”

“There ain’t nothin’ he can do even if you did tell ‘im,” said the other. “I doubt you know who we are and even if ya did, our parents don’t work anywhere near your father, so he can’t touch ‘em.”

Draco turned a deeper shade of red. Now it was Blaise’s turn to try.

“But my mum—” he started.

“Can’t do a thing to us either,” interrupted Derek. “We know all about how she’s been married seven times and each husband died under mysterious circumstances. What’s she gonna do? Murder us too? Don’t you think it’d look a bit fishy if the ones her son was complaining about suddenly turned up dead?”

“The only reason anyone pays attention to her anyway is because she’s so rich,” added Jake. “Without that money, she just a stinking, slimy—"

“HEY!” shouted Ashi, stomping up to the group angrily.

The two older boys grinned at each other, then back at Ashi.

“Well, well, well,” said Jake. “Look who it is—the traitorous freak.”

“Come to see some real heroes put the villains in their place?” asked Derek.

Ashi stopped next to Draco and folded his arms, tapping his foot on the stone floor. “That depends. Although, I think your perception of who’s the villain and who’s the hero is a little screwy.”

They continued grinning.

“What ‘cha talking about? Gryffindors are always the heroes and Slytherins are always the villains,” said Jake. “That’s just the way it is.”

“Since when?” asked Ashi. “I never got the memo that said I was supposed to be evil once I was accepted into Slytherin.” He turned to his friends. “Did you?”

They both shook their heads.

Ashi looked back at the older boys. “So? Where did you get something that said Gryffindors are always good and Slytherins are always bad?”

“Didn’t have to,” said Jake. “It’s just a simple fact of life. Although I guess sometimes the Sorting Hat can get a little confused. Must have been what happened when he sorted your parents into Gryffindor. I heard that your dad was best friends with You-Know-Who when his was here. It was only Dumbledore keeping a tight leash on ‘im that kept him from becoming a Death Eater. And your mum. Boy, is she a slut. Sleeps with a different guy every other week, I hear. It’s no wonder they had a freaky kid like—”

Ashi couldn’t take it anymore. He was trying really hard to keep his temper in check, but he had never really been good at it and nobody deserved to be talked about that way, especially by people who didn’t even know them.

Before he had finished speaking, Ashi had delivered an uppercut to the Jake’s jaw so fast that none of them had time to react. Ashi’s arm was back down by his side by the time anyone looked at him.

The bully’s head snapped back with a crack and he screamed as blood began dripping from his mouth. He had bitten his tongue.

“You little bastard,” shouted Jake. He pulled his own arm back in preparation for his own punch but was interrupted by a silky-soft voice.

“What’s going on here?” asked Professor Snape, slinking around the corner with an armful of books and papers.

Derek was too busy trying to stem the flow of blood trickling out of his mouth to answer. Jake quickly lowered his arm to eye-level and pointed at the Slytherins.

“We were just walking by, minding our own business, when this little prick punched Derek,” he explained.

Snape stared balefully at them. “Is that so?” he asked. “I didn’t see anything. Are you sure he didn’t just bite his tongue on his own?”

“What? I—he—NO!” shouted Jake.

“Hnn. Then do you have some sort of proof?” asked Snape. “Did you see one of them hit him?”

“Well, no, but—”

“Then how do you know Mr. Potter punched your… _friend_?”

“I—I—Because—"

“Hnn. No proof. Ten points from Gryffindor for wrongful accusation.”

“What?! But—”

“Get him to the infirmary before I take even more points for dawdling.”

Both of the Gryffindors glared at the Slytherins before limping off down another corridor to the infirmary.

The remaining students looked up at Snape silently and he stared at them blandly for a few seconds before he continued on his way to the Great Hall with a swish of his robes.

The three boys stood in silence until the Professor had turned a corner and disappeared.

Suddenly, Blaise clapped a hand in Ashi’s shoulder and started snorting with laughter. “Ha ah ha, did you see their faces?” he hooted. “They’ll think twice before messing with you again, Ashi. Where’d you learn to punch like that anyway?”

Ashi looked down at him, slightly confused. “You don’t learn self-defense?” he asked.

“Well, kinda. Most of us don’t, but they’ll teach us that later in school. That’s what Defense Against the Darks Arts is for.”

Ashi shook his head. “But what if something happens before you get to school?” he asked.

“Something like what? We’ve got Aurors to catch the bad guys and our parents take care of everything else. But there are always nuts like Crabbe and Goyle that learn how to fight.”

Ashi shook his head again. He was too tired to continue this debate so he simply stepped away from them and muttered under his breath, “Idiotic humans.”

“Oh, hey,” continued Blaise, taking a few steps to catch up with Ashi. “Thanks for helping out back there. It was probably going to get ugly if you hadn’t stepped in when you did.”

“No problem,” said Ashi. “I needed to go this way anyway.”

Behind them, Draco stood by himself and watched as they walked further away. Once he had gathered enough courage and dignity, he hurried to catch up with them.

“Hey, Ashi?” he asked. Ashi looked at him, waiting for him to continue. Draco picked at a string on his bag before he continued. “Will you…um…Will you teach us how to do that?”

“Do what?” asked Ashi.

“You know…how to punch people like that.”

“ _You_ want to know how to get physical with someone?” asked Blaise, surprised. “I would have never expected it from you.”

“That’s why it’s gotta stay between us,” hushed Draco. “Father will kill me and leave my corpse out for the crows to pick dry if he finds out I’m doing this.” Draco turned back to Ashi. “So, will you do it?”

Ashi shrugged. “Sure,” he said. “Pick a time and a place and I’ll be there.”

“Awesome,” said Blaise. “Does that mean I can come too?”

Ashi nodded.

Blaise pumped his fists in excitement and took a few steps ahead of them to practice some moves he had seen on a Muggle movie once. He was doing them so badly and with such an emphasis on the yells and battle cries that Ashi had a hard time keeping his laughter to himself.

Beside him, Draco fidgeted for a few seconds before he said quietly, “Thank you,” and quickened his pace.

Ashi watched the shorter boy walk away from him, catch up to Blaise, and attempt to convince him to quit with the ridiculous moves. Ashi smiled to himself. He was starting to get the hang of this friendship thing.

They reached the Great Hall a few minutes later.

Blaise instantly glided over to the few other students he had occasionally ate with and plopped down next to them.

Draco and Ashi followed at a more sedate pace and, rather gracefully, took seats next to their friend. By the time they reached him, he was already animatedly telling the tale of how Ashi fought off the bullies to anyone who would listen with even half an ear.

He was only having as much success as he did because his story had Slytherins as the victims and Gryffindors as the culprits. Most were ignoring him because they didn’t want to have to listen to a story that had the Light-wizards’ savior as the hero.

Even so, Blaise had a number of students, including a few Ravenclaws behind him, listening enraptured as Ashi fought tooth and nail to save poor Draco Malfoy from the terrible Gryffindors.

Draco had enough after a few seconds. “Would you quit it already,” he yelled, banging his fist on the table. “That’s not what happened. I wasn’t sniveling in a corner like a coward.”

“I never said you were, Draco,” replied Blaise smoothly.

“You implied it, and I don’t like it when people imply things about me.”

“Oh, come on, Draco. You’ve already got the reputation of a dragon around here. This little story’s not going to do anything to you.”

“It’ll do enough.”

“Ashi,” whispered someone at Ashi’s elbow.

Startled, he turned to see who had called.

Lily was kneeling down on his left. “Can I talk to you for a moment?” she asked quietly.

She was trying to be discreet, but it wasn’t working. It wasn’t often that a teacher left their kingdom of the High Table to visit the lowly students so anyone who was anywhere near Ashi was starting to ignore Draco and Blaise’s ruckus in favor of eavesdropping on Lily. Even Draco and Blaise themselves were beginning to only argue halfheartedly as they favored watching Ashi’s reaction.

Ashi quirked an eyebrow slightly at what he thought was an odd question. It wasn’t like he could say no.

Lily fidgeted, looking nervously around at the many eyes that were staring at her. “Outside, I mean.”

Without a word, Ashi reached under the table for his bag and stood up.

Lily looked relieved and stood up as well, leading the way through the crowd of students to the slightly more silent entryway. She led him over to the top of one of the staircases and faced him.

He looked at her silently, crossing his arms as he waited for her to start speaking.

She fidgeted, then sighed. “Ashi,” she began, then paused.

Ashi waited a few seconds then replied, “Yes?” in the hopes that it would encourage her to hurry up and continue so he could go to the library.

She sighed harshly through her nose. “I, um, hear you got into a fight.”

Ashi quirked his eyebrow. They called what happened with the Gryffindors a fight? What would they call a real fight, then? A massacre?

Lily narrowed her eyes a bit when she saw Ashi’s reaction. It was like he didn’t care at all, like he thought he could get away with anything he wanted. Well, she would set him straight.

“Ashi, you can’t do that.”

“I cannot protect myself?” he asked, sounding rather confused.

“What? No. That’s not what I meant. You can protect yourself, but you can’t go around punching other students, or anyone for that matter, without a good reason.”

“Protecting myself is not a good reason?”

“It is! But what you did wasn’t protecting yourself. You were goading the other boys into a fight.”

“I was not the one who started it.”

“You were the first one to hit someone.”

“They were verbally abusing several people. Am I not allowed to protect the dignity of those I choose?”

Lily started. Verbally abuse? Since when did an eleven-year-old know about those kinds of things. “That may be so, but it’s not right for someone your age to go around punching people every time they say something mean or that you disagree with. You’re supposed to go find a teacher or make your reply civilly, or even just walk away.”

“If I had gone to find a teacher,” replied Ashi, rather heatedly, “they would have been gone by the time I returned and nothing would have been accomplished. I did reply civilly for a time, but they decided civility was beneath them. If I had walked away, Draco and Blaise would have gotten hurt.”

Lily’s head was reeling. She had never had a first year who could debate so well. She was used to them immediately backing down and saying, “Yes, ma’am.”

She took a deep breath to steady herself. “Still, there must have been some other way for you to handle the situation than to punch him. He nearly bit his tongue off.”

Ashi smirked a bit. “He would not have if it were not in the way.”

Lily glared at him. “That’s it,” she huffed. “You’re grounded.”

Ashi cocked his head. “What does that mean? I cannot leave the ground even if I wanted to.”

“Go to your dorm room and don’t leave until your father comes tomorrow and he and I decide a suitable punishment for you.”

“Why?”

“Because you did something wrong, Ashi!”

“So, protecting myself is considered wrong here.”

“No! But the way you protected yourself is inappropriate and you need to learn not to start fights when someone angers you.”

“But—”

“ _Enough_ , Ashi,” shouted Lily. “Enough. Just…go to your room and think hard about why punching another student would be considered wrong.”

Ashi ground his teeth. What the heck was wrong with this school if protecting himself and his friends got _him_ into trouble and not the attacker. He didn’t move for a few seconds, trying to decide whether this was worth more argument over.

Lily beat him to it. “Well?” she asked, her voice rising an octave. She pointed toward the stairs the led to the dungeons. “Go on.”

Ashi growled under his breath at her, then turned on his heel and marched away. He spotted Draco and Blaise waiting by the Great Hall’s great doors. Blaise was leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe, trying to lighten the mood by smearing a huge grin on his face when he noticed Ashi looking at them. Draco just scowled.

Ashi glared, although he wasn’t really mad at them but rather at Lily, at the school system, and the Gryffindors that had caused the whole mess.

Blaise’s grin slipped off his face and Draco’s scowl darkened. They approached him slowly, meeting him halfway to the staircase.

“So…what happened?” asked Blaise.

“They are deciding on a proper punishment for me,” said Ashi in a rather mocking imitation of Lily.

“Ech,” sympathized Blaise.

“Why are you in trouble?” asked Draco. “They’re the ones that started it.”

Ashi shrugged. “The wonderfulness of your school system.”

“So you got detention?” asked Blaise. “That sucks.”

Ashi shook his head. “No detention. What does ‘grounded’ mean?”

“You’ve been grounded?!” barked Blaise. “Your parents are the ones punishing you? They can’t do that! We’re in school. The school’s supposed to decide punishment if you get in trouble.”

“Says who?” asked Draco. “There’s probably nothing in the rules about it and no one’s ever had a parent who was also a teacher while they were at school.”

“Sure, there are. There’s…there’s…” Blaise trailed off, frowning as he tried to think of an example.

“Exactly. There’s no one,” reiterated Draco.

“There must be. This school’s been around for, what, a thousand years? There’s got to be someone who’s parent was a professor.”

“Even if there was, what’s the school supposed to do? It’s not like they can tell someone how to raise their kid.”

Blaise pouted and the trio walked in silence for a few yards.

“What does ‘grounded’ mean?” asked Ashi again.

Blaise shot Ashi an astounded look. “You’ve never been grounded before?”

Ashi shook his head.

Blaise whistled. “Wow, man. You’re lucky.”

“Grounded simply means you’re not allowed to go anywhere other than home or have any friends over,” explained Draco.

“Basically, you can’t have fun,” said Blaise.

Ashi hummed.

They stopped before their House door and Draco barked the password. They trickled in once the door opened.

Blaise led the way up the staircase to their dorm room. He hopped up the last few steps backwards so he could face the other two. “Hey, since it’s your parents and not the school who’s punishing you and it’s the weekend tomorrow, your dad’s probably going show up. That’s why she’s waiting, right? Will you let us know when they call for you so we can come too?”

“What would that do?” asked Draco as he shoved open their room door.

“Well, we could go with him and, I dunno, vouch for him? Like, tell them that it wasn’t his fault.”

“They’re both Gryffindors,” snorted Ashi as he climbed onto his bed, exhausted. “You really think they’re going to listen to a couple of Slytherins?”

“I heard Professor Snape was sweet on Professor Potter when they were in school,” said Blaise.

“Yeah? So what? I bet a lot of people were sweet on a lot of others in school. Doesn’t mean she liked him back,” said Draco. He dropped rather ungracefully onto his own bed.

Blaise stopped between the two before he decided to sit on Ashi’s bed. “But she didn’t push him away like most of the others would. I don’t think she liked him like he did her, but she didn’t hate him.”

“And?” pressed Draco.

“ _And_ ,” replied Blaise, exasperated, “she might not be as biased against Slytherins as you think.”

“ _She_ might not be, but _he_ sure is. He’s so biased he might not even listen to his own son’s argument.”

Ashi growled. “I’m not their son.”

Blaise flapped a hand at him. “Yeah, yeah, you’re adopted.”

“That may be so,” said Draco at the same time, “but legally they are your parents.”

Ashi harrumphed, crossed his arms, and looked away sulkily.

Draco and Blaise exchanged a concerned look.

“Just…let us know when they want to talk to you,” sighed Blaise. “We might be able to help you.”

“Or make it worse,” muttered Draco.

Ashi turned back to them and nodded, giving them a ghost of a smile as he did so.

* * *

Ashi was up early the next morning, as per usual, despite it being the weekend. He was taking the opportunity to finish a History of Magic essay they were supposed to turn in on Tuesday.

Blaise and Draco were both still asleep, enjoying their time off.

This was the time of day Ashi enjoyed most, especially at Hogwarts. Silence permeated the room, a welcome relief from the cacophony of sounds that bombarded his sensitive ears while he was in classes. Even in the library, there wasn’t as much silence as Ashi would have liked. There was always someone whispering, pages shuffling, chairs scraping against the floor. Here, though, was almost perfect silence. There was only the occasional rustling of covers and the other boys’ rhythmic breathing.

A snore emanated from Blaise’s bed.

Ashi glared Blaise’s bed curtains for a second—they all slept with the curtains pulled but Ashi had drawn his when he woke—then turned his attention back to his parchment when nothing else happened. His quill scratched on the parchment for another half a minute before he set it down, blew on the ink to hasten its drying, then lay it on his nightstand.

Now that that was done, he had some free time. He pulled out his Fantastic Beasts book and flipped the pages until he found where he had left off.

Silence was king once more.

At least, until the door creaked open around 8:00.

Ashi’s head jerked up in surprise. He had heard someone’s footsteps, but he had thought it was just another early riser.

Professor Snape glided into the room, maneuvering around the clothes, books, and general trash that littered the room—mostly Blaise’s doing. He scowled at the mess and continued on until he was right in front of Ashi.

Ashi stared at him.

Snape cleared his throat quietly and said, “Your presence has been requested.”

Ashi blinked. “By who?” he asked.

Snape’s lip curled a tad. “Your parents.”

Ashi looked away, at Blaise and Draco, who were still sleeping peacefully, and sighed. “Fine,” he said. “Let’s go.”

He set his book down and scooted off the bed. It creaked a bit but neither of his roommates stirred. He followed Snape down to the common room, out the door, and up a staircase to one of the unused classrooms where James and Lily were waiting.

James was sitting at one of the desks, looking bored and tired, while Lily paced a few steps in front of him.

As they walked in, Ashi caught James stifling a yawn.

Snape eyed the couple, mostly James, and asked, “Must I supervise?”

James waved a hand dismissively. “Nah. We got if from here. Thanks, Snivellus.”

Snape sneered, but turn away and left the room all the same.

Ashi could hear him stop just outside though. It gave him a small sense of security, knowing that there was at least one person on his side ready to jump in.

James ran a hand through his hair. “Ashi,” he began, then hesitated. “So, um, how’s school going?”

Ashi shrugged. “Fine.”

“I heard you got into a fight yesterday.”

This time, even though he knew it was coming, he couldn’t help but snort, loudly. “ _That_ wasn’t a fight.”

James and Lily looked at each other warily.

“Then what was it?” asked Lily.

Ashi glared at them both. “That was me protecting myself from bullies.”

James rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, but Ashi, there are better ways to protect yourself from them than punching him.”

Ashi crossed his arms, tapping his foot on the stone floor impatiently. “Yeah? Like what?”

“You’re supposed to go find a teacher, or just walk away,” said Lily heatedly.

“If I had done that, I would have looked like a coward,” growled Ashi softly, determined not to be the first one to raise his voice. “I will not look like a coward, no matter what your rules say.”

“He’s got a point, Lily,” said James quietly.

She glared at him, then turned her attention back to Ashi. “You will not look like a coward. You would be doing the right thing. If you go tell a teacher, they can do something about it, but if you get into fights, we have to punish _both_ of you instead of just the one.”

“Punish how?” asked Ashi. “Detention? And what next? They’ll just keep coming back and next time they’ll be even madder because I got them in trouble.”

“You got them in trouble anyway!” said Lily.

“But at least now they know I can defend myself. I’m not some snot-nosed brat that goes running to a caretaker every time I scrape my knee!”

“Alright, alright,” interrupted James.

Lily and Ashi turned their glares to him. He glared back just as hard.

“Look, I’ve thought about this and I think the reason Ashi’s having so much trouble is because he was sorted into Slytherin.”

Ashi growled.

“Not this again,” moaned Lily.

“Yes, this again,” said James. “Think about it. If Ashi were in Gryffindor like he should have been, they wouldn’t have had a reason to pick on him.”

“I wasn’t the one they were picking on,” said Ashi, but James kept talking over him.

“Gryffindors are singling him out and Slytherins are ignoring him. So are the other two Houses, right? If we move him into Gryffindor, they won’t be able to pick on him without making their House look bad.”

“James, he’d be picked on no matter what House he was sorted into and he’s already settled into Slytherin. You really want to up and move him now?”

“But at least if he’s in Gryffindor, he’d have Housemates that would back him. He doesn’t have that now, does he?”

“I’m _not_ moving to Gryffindor,” roared Ashi. “And if you ever force me to do something I don’t want, I will disappear and you will _never_ see me again, magic or no magic.”

James and Lily stared at him in shock.

Then Lily pointed at him and said, “See? This is what I was talking about. It’s not the House that’s the problem, it’s him!”

“And what, exactly is the problem?” asked Ashi, determined not to be pushed out of the conversation.

“It’s your attitude!” barked James.

“My attitude is just fine. It’s your response to my _actions_ that started all of this. Everything would have been just fine if you hadn’t butted in,” growled Ashi.

“It’s not fine, Ashi,” said Lily, still hot under the collar. Then she sighed hard and tried to calm herself. “You can’t just go around punching everyone that you don’t like.”

“I don’t,” muttered Ashi.

Lily ignored him. “If we did that, the world would be utter chaos and war.”

“You think I don’t know that!” screeched Ashi.

James and Lily stared at him, stunned silent.

“All my life I’ve heard about what happens when the law is so weak it might as well not exist,” he ranted. “You have no idea what my family had to do in order to survive because there was no law to prevent worse from being done to themselves.” He paused, panting a bit. “The only ones who know that better than I are those who have experienced a world without law and as far as I know you do not belong in that category so you should have nothing to say to me.”

“We never said we have,” said James. “Experienced that, I mean.”

“We’re just worried you didn’t know,” explained Lily. “We need to make sure you understand not to use your talents to do wrong.”

Ashi glared harder at them. “I never have and I don’t plan on it. I’ve been doing just fine without you so far, so I don’t think you need to butt in now.”

“That’s just the thing, Ashi,” said James tersely, rising from his seat threateningly. Ashi stood his ground and glared into James’s eyes. “We don’t know how you’ve been doing. And we won’t unless you tell us.”

Ashi opened his mouth to retort but James cut him off.

“When we found you in the snow, in that graveyard, all alone, we made that decision to take you home, to make you part of our family. Even though we had no idea what in Merlin’s beard you are!”

Ashi took a step back, shock and suspicion accompanied by a hint of fear slowly replacing the anger on his face. Lily whipped her head worriedly between the two and reached out a hand toward James.

James ignored her and took a step forward to follow, still lecturing lividly. “Most wizards would have killed you on sight when you turned into a wolf. They would have ignored the fact that you are at least part human because werewolves are so feared around here that it’s almost illegal to be one.”

“James,” said Lily softly, touching her husband’s arm again. He ignored her. She looked back at Ashi. He took another step back, shock morphing into terror.

James followed again, gesticulating wildly.

“But we didn’t, because we’re better than that. We took you home and fed you and gave you a warm bed for a year and a half. We loved you. And it wasn’t our fault that those others came and took you away. That’s who those boys are, right? The other werewolves? Did they tell you they stole you away from a perfectly loving family who accepted you for what you were?”

A chair scraped on the stone floor when Ashi bumped into it as he was fearfully backing away from the Potters. He stumbled a bit but kept his footing.

James was still coming after him, oblivious to the outright terror Ashi was displaying. “But we’ve found you now and Lily and I are doing our best to try to get back into your life, and you won’t even give us a chance! You aren’t even the same species as us, but we gave you a chance. Isn’t it time to return that favor?!”

Ashi’s back hit the door and he fumbled for the knob, flinging the door open backwards behind him. He stumbled out of the room and sprinted down the hall, completely ignoring Blaise and Draco’s shouts from where they stood in front of Professor Snape.

“Ashi!”

“Hey, wait!”

“Wait, Ashi, please!”

As soon as he turned the corner, he shifted and skidded around another hall on four legs, gathering speed. He had stopped listening to James once he had confirmed that the Potters knew he was a wolf. After that the only thing running through his mind was that this was bad. This was very bad. Someone knew his secret and who knows how many people they had told, and who those people had told. Sure, others knew his secret, but they were all wolves or other magical creatures or lived in China. No one cared when they were in China, but out here…

He had heard stories of the things humans did to people and things that were different from them. Most of whatever the humans got their hands on had never been seen free again, either dead or wishing they were.

He slid around the final corner so fast that the rest of his body couldn’t keep up with his feet and he went tumbling sideways. He whimpered softy when his left shoulder hit the ground, jarring it badly. He stood up clumsily, favoring that leg a bit, and continued his mad dash to the Forbidden Forest. He hardy noticed when stone turned to grass as he shot across the greenway, racing the rising sun. What did it matter if people saw a wolf leaving the castle? It wasn’t like they were ever going to see him again.

* * *

As soon as Ashi was out the door, the ire melted away from James’s mind and he realized what he had done. He saw down hard in the nearest chair—the one Ashi had bumped into—and buried his head in his hands.

He didn’t notice when Lily rushed past him.

“Wait, Ashi, please!” he heard her yell. A few other voices joined hers in the corridor, then footsteps hurrying out of his hearing.

Oh, Merlin, what had he done? They were making progress with him. It was slow progress, sure, but James had no right to talk to Ashi like that. It was Parenting 101 to not take out your frustrations on your new kid like that.

A shadow blocked what little light there was in the classroom and a silky voice snarled, “What did you do, Potter? What did you say to him?”

James looked blearily up at Severus. He was scowling down in a most un-Snapely manner.

“I-I-I,” stammered James. What could he say? He couldn’t tell him the truth—not that he’d really want to. It was Snivillus Snape after all. And he and Lily had promised not to tell anyone about Ashi’s shape-shifting capabilities unless Ashi himself had approved.

“What the _hell_ , Potter?!” yelled Draco Malfoy, marching up behind his Head of House. “What did you do to him? He ran out of here like a scared rabbit.”

Automatically, James’s mind provided him with key information about Draco. He was Ashi’s roommate, classmate, Housemate, and—according to Lily’s letters—Ashi’s friend. He was also the son of Lucius Malfoy, suspected Death Eater and Pureblood radical.

“He’d never run away like that. So what did you do?” demanded another boy, Blaise Zabini. He held the same position in Hogwarts that Draco did, but his mother wasn’t a Death Eater. In fact, the only thing she had done that was remotely criminal was fall in love too many times.

James was at a loss for words. He stammered some more as all three Slytherins peered down at him accusingly.

“Hrn,” hummed Snape, unimpressed. “It would seem to me that you’re not cut out for this parenting act, Potter, if your first real argument with the boy sends him running for his life.”

James stood up, pushing back the chair noisily. “Now, wait just a minute,” he barked. “I’ve been doing just fine until now.” He jabbed a finger toward the door where Ashi had disappeared. “ _He’s_ the one who’s not giving us a chance here. We’ve done _everything_ for him. We’ve bought him clothes, and books, and supplies, and we sent him here, to Hogwarts, the most prestigious wizarding school in the world and he won’t even give us the time of day. How are we supposed to work with that?!”

“Figure it out, Potter,” growled Snape. “But think about it. He was a year and a half when he disappeared. He’ll never remember you at that age. To him, you’re just a couple of strangers claiming to care about him. He’s not some stray dog that will do tricks for the first hand that feeds him. Figure it out, Potter, and fast. Or we might start thinking you’re not the right person to be taking care of him.”

James was so stunned by Snape’s last comment that he simply stood there, gaping, as the Professor walked back out of the room.

Malfoy shot him a nasty look and whispered threateningly, “Watch yourself, Potter. Or you’ll find yourself wishing you were never born,” before following his teacher.

Zabini just looked him up and down before scowling, apparently deciding he didn’t like what he saw, and trotting off to go look for Ashi.

James sat back down in his chair and banged his head on the desk in front of him a few times.


	21. The Wolf Pack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget: Itaisized=wolf speak

"Did you find him?" asked Lily. She and James had spent the last two hours scouring the castle for Ashi ever since he had run away.

James shook his head mournfully. "Nothing."

Lily moaned and scrubbed her face with her hands.

James stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, don't worry. We'll find him. There are a million places he could have gone in Hogwarts." He paused, then groaned. "Oh, Merlin. I can't believe I forgot." He started searching his robes.

Lily looked up. "What? What did you forget, James?"

"Sirius gave me the Map when I told him Ashi would be attending Hogwarts."

Lily scrunched her nose. "You mean that ridiculous Marauder's Map you used to stay out of trouble?"

"Yeah. That's it. It should help us find him. Here it is." He pulled a worn and dirty piece of paper out and unfolded it. He pointed his wand at it and recited, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Lily rolled her eyes but leaned forward to peer at the map with him.

They saw several groups of names in different parts of the castle. Most of the students were in their dorm or common rooms wasting the day away doing nothing. A few scattered names showed the professors finishing up some work in their classrooms or students outside or in the library.

Lily and James spent a good several minutes scouring the piece of paper for Ashi's name. Lily was just about to declare the map a lost cause when a smaller group at the edge of the map caught her eye. A name surrounded by four others, which she knew she should recognize but didn't. They flickered in and out of existence a few times every second—always showing up in a spot about a quarter of an inch away from where they had disappeared—and when they were on the map, they were so faint Lily could barely see them.

She stared hard at them and it took her a while to even read the names, they were flashing so randomly and quickly. Finally, she noticed one dot switching between "Harry Potter" and "Ashi."

"Look, James!" she shouted excitedly, pointing at the group. "There!"

James looked and grunted in acknowledgement. "Let's go get him then."

"But, James, that's the Forbidden Forest. Why is he in there? He should know it's off limits to students. It's dangerous."

"We'll chew him out later for it. Let's just get him back in the castle for now."

James stuffed the map back into his robe and set off with Lily close behind. Together they marched through the halls toward the back of the castle. They passed a couple pairs of students along the way, all of whom immediately started whispering about how exciting it was to see the Potters, heroes of the wizarding world, together in person.

Lily ignored them until she overheard one pair start talking about how her son had turned Dark while he was away from them. If James hadn't grabbed her elbow and forced her to keep walking, she would have given them detention for the rest of the month. As it was, she spent the rest of the walk practically stomping down the corridors with a scowl on her face.

James pulled out the map again when they reached the grassy field just in front of the Forest. They spent precious seconds finding the group of dots again. This time, the group was flickering what roughly translated to two miles away from where they last were. They were traveling deeper into the forest.

"Hurry up, James," groaned Lily, tugging once at his arm while he just stared at the map. "We have to go. They're getting farther away."

"Wait. Hold on," replied James. "I'm trying to remember…I've been over there before and if I can remember where exactly, we might be able to apparate there."

Lily stared at him. "You've been there?!" she shrieked. "When?"

"Does that really matter?" James asked, glaring. "Look, you can lecture me later. We've got to find Ashi." He shoved the map unceremoniously into his robes. "Grab my arm. If we hurry, we'll get there before them. If we don't, we'll be playing catch up for the rest of the day."

Lily linked her arm through his and opened her mouth to scold him some more. James apparated before she could. That familiar, excruciating feeling of being sucked through a straw made her forget what she was going to say when they landed on the forest floor.

As unpleasant as apparition was when you knew it was going to happen, it was ten times worse when you were suddenly jerked through space against your will. Lily nearly threw up when she finally found her feet, but she managed to keep her breakfast down. When the nausea passed, she stood up from her bent-over position and looked around. "Where are we?" she asked.

"I'm sure it has an official name, but I don't know it. The Marauders called it Skull-Face Rock." James pointed behind them to a huge boulder at least twice their height and tens of yards in diameter. The two gouges in the middle of the rock were what Lily guessed prompted its name.

She turned around again, taking in her surroundings. There was nothing but trees in every direction, birch and ash mixed with oaks. They thinned at the edge of the Skull-Face Rock clearing, but after a few yards, they thickened so much she could barely see anything between them. Even deeper in leaves blocked out the sunlight to give the sense of perpetual twilight.

When she and the Marauders were younger, they would all sneak in through the tree line by the castle to a group of hazel trees just inside the Forest. Now, she was one who would ground students on the spot for doing something so stupid.

"Alright," she said. "So where are they?"

James pulled out the map again. "Umm…here," he jabbed his finger into the paper, then pointed to his right, "they're over that way. I can't tell if they're moving, though."

Lily started forward where James indicated. She paused and looked back when James didn't follow. "Well? Are you coming?"

James was looking past her through the trees, still as a statue.

"James?" asked Lily, taking a step toward him.

"Shh," hushed James. He kept staring at the woods.

Lily stilled. She had never been with James when he was working a case, but she had been married to him long enough that she knew he gained certain skills. After all these years as an auror, he had picked up a sixth sense of sorts; he knew when something that didn't want to be seen was out there.

She turned her head, her body slowly following, now acutely aware of the fallen leaves crackling loudly beneath her feet. The wind blew softly through the trees, rustling branches and moving leaves. Now that she was paying attention, Lily noticed there were no birds chirping, no squirrels scolding them. That always seemed ominous to her, but they had made quite a bit of noise with their apparition so it wasn't too unusual.

She waited a minute before she turned back to James. He was still staring into the forest. She looked at the trees again then back at her husband. She shook her head. "There's nothing there, James."

He kept staring for another few seconds before he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. I guess so. Let's go then."

Lily reached out her hand and James grabbed it as he reached her. They walked a few steps together.

Then a sharp crack filled the air. It was not so loud as to be an apparition, but there was definitely something out there. A flock of birds startled into the trees with a flurry of wings.

James instantly went on the defensive and shoved Lily behind him and pulled out his wand, the one hand still stretched out toward Lily protectively.

She pulled out her own wand and readied herself for battle with whatever horror was stalking them.

They scanned the woods in front of them silently, waiting for their stalker to appear. Eventually, it did.

A pair of yellow eyes glowed through the trees. A long nose pushed through a pair of bushes just outside of the clearing, followed by a longer, leaner body. The white wolf stepped slowly into the clearing, its lips raised in a silent snarl.

James gently pushed Lily further back, away from the wolf. Their wands were at the ready, but they didn't fire any spells.

"James," whispered Lily fearfully.

James motioned his free hand, still stretched toward his wife, in a 'calm down' motion. Chances were, the wolf was just inspecting them, challenging them for infringing on its territory. If they didn't back down and made themselves look authoritative, it would most likely leave them alone and run away.

Leaves rustled to the left and Lily jerked her head toward it, a bad move on her part, but she was so spooked she couldn't help herself.

A tan wolf stepped into view, with its lips also raised in a snarl, its tail fluffed and standing straight up in alarm and anger.

A low growl on her other side made Lily snap her head that way. A brown wolf a few shades darker than the tan had its hackles raised, growling at humans, and looked ready to pounce.

"James," Lily whispered again, a little more urgently. Their odds of survival had just plummeted drastically. And to think Ashi was out here, alone and defenseless, with beasts like these.

"I know," he whispered back. "Just don't make any sudden movements."

"Smart move," commented a rough voice.

Startled, both Potters turned their attention to the young man with silver hair and tight leather clothes leaning against a tree close to the tan wolf, arms crossed.

"Ah," squeaked Lily, mind racing to remember his name. "…erm…Tsume. What are you doing here? What's going on?"

Tsume shrugged nonchalantly. "We could ask you the same thing."

"What do you mean?" asked James harshly, defensively.

Tsume pushed off from the tree and took a threatening step forward. "Oh, I think you know exactly what I mean. We trusted you—even though you're complete strangers!—to take care of him while he was at school. He wanted this so bad, he didn't care that we didn't know a thing about you, and you let him down!"

The three wolves growled louder at Tsume's proclamation. The brown and white wolves started pacing back and forth, making sure the couple didn't get the chance to run past them.

"What?" asked James quietly, in confusion.

Tsume raised his voice a bit to compete with the wolves. "You betrayed him! Threatened to expose him for being different the first time he does something that you don't want him to."

"That's not—" started Lily, but Tsume kept going and the wolves loudened their snarls.

"What kind of teacher does that?"

"No!" shouted James.

Tsume continued, gesticulating a bit to make his point. "Hell, you're supposed to be his parents, aren't you? That's what you wanted, isn't it? To take care of him? Well, you did a hell of a job back there. It's a wonder you don't have more kids." He flopped his arm in their general direction. "You obviously need someone to bully someone smaller, weaker, _younger_ , than you to make you feel powerful. Your magic not enough for you? You need to scare kids into doing what you want?"

"What in Merlin's beard are you talking about?!" shrieked Lily, oblivious to the trio of wolves preparing to attack. She strode forward until she was less than a foot away from Tsume, despite James frantically trying to keep her behind him.

"Wait, Lily," he hissed, but she ignored him.

Tsume stepped forward to meet her, towering over her a few inches. She didn't let that intimidate her, though.

"What would you know about what we want for him?" she asked pointedly, jabbing a finger at his chest. "All we want is for him to be happy and safe. We've been protecting him for longer than you know."

"Protecting him, are you?" growled Tsume. "Are you sure you just have been keeping that secret just so you can blackmail him with it? Oh wait, you've already done that!"

The tan wolf's growl suddenly turned into sharp barks, saliva flying through the air as he bared his teeth viciously.

"Black—Why in the world would we do that?" said James, keeping his eye on the wolves. "He's our son! And a child! We wouldn't dream of doing that to him…or anyone!"

"Is that so? Then what were you doing in that classroom? Simply explaining that you knew exactly what he was, that you knew what would happen to him if that ever got out?" Tsume spread his arms as he asked his sarcastic question. "That sounds a lot like blackmail to me. And if that's how you're going to treat him, treat _us_ , we're leaving, and you'll never see us again."

Tsume turned on his heel and marched away.

"Now you wait a minute!" cried Lily. "If you'd just—"

Tsume whirled on them with a nasty look on his face. "If I'd just what? Stand here and listen to you justify why you threatened a kid—one of your students—when he didn't want to switch dorm rooms? Do you even know what they'll do to us when they find out we're different?...There is no justifying _that_."

Tsume turned again and started walking away from them.

"Wait!" shouted James, raising his wand, hoping the threat of a spell would stop Tsume. "We're not—Gaaahhhh!"

Lily's scream joined James's when the brown wolf launched himself as James had raised his arm. Its teeth sank easily into his arm, spattering blood over both their faces and James's robes as it sliced easily through skin, muscle, and sinew. The wolf let go almost as soon as he had clamped his jaws shut, jumping away from danger as James sank to the forest floor, clutching his injured arm and hissing through his teeth.

The other two wolves started barking and growling at the Potters, tails up and bushy, hackles raised, and jaws snapping to keep them from moving or retaliating. All three alternated between crouching in place and springing at them threateningly.

On reflex, Lily shot a stinging jinx at the tan one when he lunged too close for comfort.

He leaped away, whimpering and pawing at his nose for a few seconds before he went back to his display.

Lily grabbed at James's bleeding arm, tears rolling down her face, and struggled to get her wand in a good position to conjure some bandages around the wound. When the blood had stopped, she looked up, glaring at Tsume and the wolves. "You monsters!" she sobbed over her husband's groans. "How could I ever have let you get away with raising my son?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw a shadow move and she jerked her tear-streaked face toward the new threat.

Ashi stepped out from behind a tree near Tsume to glare at her. He was so angry that he didn't even bother to give her enough respect to use her name, so angry he nearly shook his fist at her. "Lady," he spat, "you have been worse to me in one week than they have _ever_ been my entire life."

More tears fell and Lily turned to look at Tsume when he said, grinning, "There's your answer. Let's go, guys." He led the way into the woods.

With a final growl and huff, the white wolf turned, followed quickly by the tan. The brown one opened its bloody jaws a little wider and kept growling until his companions were safely in the trees, then galloped after them. Ashi watched the Potters a few seconds after they were all gone, then he, too, disappeared into the forest.

Lily sobbed again as she watched her son go, not able to do anything about it. She was snapped out of her misery by a groan from James. Frantically, she cupped his face, smearing blood on his cheeks. "James. James," she whispered, trying to get him to focus on her and not on his arm. "Look at me. Here. Are you alright?"

James grasped one of her hands and pulled it from his face. "I'm fine. It's just a bite. I've had worse."

"Yeah. No, I know. But there's so much blood and I—" her voice broke and she started sobbing again.

James wrapped his uninjured arm around her shoulders and rocked her back and forth, shushing her.

Lily kept crying onto James's shoulder for a good five minutes before she ran out of tears. Then they just sat there, together, listening to the chirping of the birds and the rustle of the leaves. Finally, she sat up, not meeting his eyes and said hoarsely, "We should get you to Poppy. I'm not good enough at healing magic to do any good."

James cracked a smile, hoping to lighten the mood. "What? You're not good at something? No way."

Lily didn't smile. "Stop it, James. It's not funny."

The smile dropped from his face. "Yeah. You're right. I shouldn't have said that. Sorry."

She shook her head. "It's alright. Come on. We've got to go. We need to hurry up and get you healed so we can find them again."

"Lily, honey, I don't…I don't think we're going to convince them to come back," he said sullenly. "They're just so set in the idea that what I said back there was blackmail. They won't let us get a word in edgewise."

"But we have to try. If we don't, he won't get a magical education and you _know_ what that could mean for him."

"Yeah. I know. I just don't know how we're going to convince them to come back."

"You will not have to, James Potter," said a rich, silky voice.

The Potters turned to stare at the newcomer in shock.

A salt-and-pepper-haired centaur with a chestnut body speckled with grey stepped into view. His eyes were a soft brown, wise and kind. His bare chest was peppered with scars of varying size and shape. Even though there weren't very many of them, the scars were eye-catching and pegged the centaur as an experienced hunter. Patches of his fur on his horse body were missing, replaced by long lines of scar tissue. A thin cut that started at the middle of his top lip and bypassed his nose to curve up to the outside corner of his right eye finished the menagerie of war wounds.

He had a long bow and a quiver of arrows slung over his back. A large hunting knife was tied to one side of his waist where horse melded into human. On the other side, the same strap held a small leather bag. His steps were silent, even though the ground beneath him was covered in dry brush.

Lily and James stared in shock. Centaurs were notorious for being reclusive and rarely allowed humans to even glimpse them, let alone talk to them. The couple had only even seen centaurs once when they had stumbled upon a hunting party during one of the Marauders' trips to the Forest. Needless to say, the centaurs were not happy to see humans in the Forest and Lily was rather convinced that they had not been killed on the spot simply because the centaurs looked down on the murder of children; adults were another matter, however.

"I-I…you…what," stammered Lily, her face turning white with awe.

"Fear not, little one," said the centaur stepping forward to kneel next to James. "I am here to help. The stars have foretold a great tribulation to come upon us in years to come." He reached into his bag, pulled out a few herbs, and began unwrapping James's bandage.

James hissed quietly when the wrapping closest to his wound peeled away.

The centaur continued with his ministrations, using a leafy plant the secreted some kind of mucus to wipe away the blood. At the same time, the mucus filled in the punctures. When the arm was relatively clean, the centaur picked up a few pieces of bark and laid them over the wound, then began wrapping the bandage over it all.

While he was tending to James's arm, he kept speaking. "Only the strong will be able to defeat it; the weak will perish at its hand and none will survive if it is allowed to roam free."

"Great evil?" questioned Lily.

"What great evil?" asked James at the same time. "What are you talking about?"

The centaur ignored them and kept wrapping James's arm. "There are gathered here a few of those needed to defeat it. You, James and Lily, are among those strong enough to have a chance, but you will not be able to survive by yourselves." He tucked in the end of the bandage to keep it from unraveling and stood up with a small groan and a flurry of stamping hooves.

When he had regained his balance, he looked out at the trees where the wolf pack had gone. "Young Ashi has promise, but if he does not hone his skills, he will not survive the coming war." He looked down at the couple. "I will be able to bring him back, but you must be careful of your words. They have not had pleasant experiences with humans and are loathe to trust any but each other. A carelessly spoken phrase will send them running for their survival," he smiled wanly at them, "as you well know now."

He looked back to the woods and began walking away.

"Wait!" shouted Lily, scrambling to her feet after him. "Will he ever trust us now? Are you sure he'll even come back when we're still here?"

The centaur didn't look at her. "It will be much harder to gain his trust now, but he _will_ come back. There is something he feels he must do for his family…and deep within him is a burning desire to _learn_ , about himself and others. He is reluctant to pass up so perfect an opportunity. You must prove to him that those words were words spoken in anger and frustration and had no real threat behind them."

"How are we supposed to do _that_?" asked James from where he was still kneeling on the ground, cradling his arm.

The centaur looked back at him, then at Lily. He shook his head at the pleading looks on their faces. "I cannot tell you that. You must figure it out on your own." He turned back to the woods. "I must leave you now or I will never catch up to them in time." He looked at them one more time and smiled softly. "But fear not. I will be watching over you. This family is the strength behind the force that will be needed, after all."

"Can we at least know your name?" called James before the centaur could turn away again.

The centaur paused for a few seconds, as if he had to remember what his name was, before he answered, "You may call me Arryn." **(Pronounced Are-in)**

"Thank you, Arryn," said Lily.

Arryn smiled once more, then galloped off after the pack.

When he was gone, Lily looked back at her husband. "Well," she sighed, "that was rather eventful."

James nodded and stood up with a groan. He looked at the trees Arryn and Ashi had disappeared between and sighed. "As much as I want to go after them, we should trust Arryn. I'd rather have him making fun of us for being gullible than him getting mad for us not trusting him."

"I know," Lily nodded. She walked back to James and took his uninjured arm. "We should get back to the castle and see Poppy."

They disappeared with a sharp _crack._

* * *

Tears stung Ashi's eyes as he ran. Tears of embarrassment, of anger, of hurt, of shame. How could he have been so _stupid_? He had heard it a million times from his pack over the years: humans could not be trusted. They were selfish, greedy, cruel creatures. But he hadn't listened. He had been blinded by the thought of something new, something to learn, the chance to really get to know humans...and he had paid the price.

From now on, he was going to be content with what life dealt him and not yearn after what others had. Maybe sometimes he would deserve something, maybe he wouldn't, but if he had to rely on someone else in order to get it, it would be better to not have it at all.

…And yet, he still wanted to go back to that castle to soak in everything it had to offer him. But it would be dangerous there, now that someone untrusted knew his secret.

They ran for the entire day, only stopping for quick breaks whenever they came across water. They climbed hills and leaped across valleys, scaled a mountain and waded across rushing rivers.

When he recounted all of that in his head, Ashi thought it sounded rather impressive, but when it came down to it, the rough terrain had impeded their progress. In reality, they had only traveled a little more than two hundred miles.

When they finally stopped for the night, it was well past dark. They had caught a couple of rabbits along the way, so there was no real reason for them to hunt before they settled down. Thank goodness.

Ashi flopped down in front of the huge oak they had chosen to guard their backs, physically and emotionally exhausted. Toboe and Tsume stepped gingerly through the brush and lay down next to him, limbs shivering from the strain. Hige dropped behind them, panting heavily. Kiba limped past them all and collapsed in a spot of moonlight.

 _"_ _How…is it that…it was flat…all the way to the castle…and then we had to do…_ that _?"_ complained Hige.

 _"_ _That's England for you,"_ answered Kiba as he curled around himself.

 _"_ _Don't worry, Hige,"_ whispered Ashi sullenly. _"We won't be coming back here again."_

Kiba cracked open his eyes to watch Ashi while Tsume and Toboe exchanged a worried look.

 _"_ _Cheer up, Ashi,"_ said Toboe as he laid his head on Ashi's back. _"We'll find you somewhere else to study magic._ "

Ashi grunted and closed his eyes. He wasn't in the mood to think about finding another school, about having to try all of this again. He would just as soon not study magic at all, no matter what the centaurs had said about rogue magic.

Within minutes all five wolves were sound asleep, despite the danger of being in unfamiliar territory without setting a watch. None of them cared.

Just before dawn, Arryn stepped through the trees, sides heaving, into their midst. He had traveled swiftly and silently and even now his pants were barely more than a whisper. He had learned the hard way the need to be silent at all times. But now he was too silent--or the wolves were too exhausted. As it was, Arryn really had to make an effort to wake the wolves up.

They did, in a flurry of claws and teeth and fur. They went from sleep-mode to attack-mode so quickly, Arryn had to make a conscious effort not to yell and attack them. Still, by the time they had all calmed down, Hige had a dirty hoof-shaped mark on his side and Arryn had his dagger out.

The wolves surrounded the centaur, growling and snapping at Arryn while he turned in quick circles in a futile attempt to keep all of them in sight at the same time.

"Calm yourselves!" shouted Arryn.

 _"_ _Who are you? What do you want?"_ growled Kiba.

The centaur glared at them all once more before he answered, "I am Arryn and I have come to negotiate."

" _Negotiate what?"_ barked Toboe.

" _We've got nothing to negotiate,"_ put in Hige. _"We'll be gone from your territory by morning."_

Arryn stamped his back hoof irritably. "You are not in _my_ territory. And I have not come to talk to _you_." He turned to Ashi.

Ashi crouched lower and raised his lips higher, hoping to intimidate the centaur with his large canines as his growling grew louder.

Arryn's expression softened as he watched the defensive display. "Young Ashi," he whispered. "You are not meant to live this sort of life. You are meant for greater things."

 _"_ _Like what?"_ snapped Ashi. _"I've tried something else—it didn't work. And I'm good at this life. Why change?"_

"Hogwarts has much to offer you, young one. Much more than you could ever dream."

 _"_ _Oh, we dream of it just fine_ ," snarked Tsume. " _We dream of being hunted down like rabbits, experimented on to 'test our limits', just so they can find out what's different about us!"_

Arryn whirled on Tsume, fire in his eyes. "There are some like that! But there are also those who would lay down their lives to save yours _because_ you're different. You only need be cautious to stay safe."

 _"_ _We were cautious, and we still got found out!"_ argued Kiba.

" _They're probably out there hunting us right now,"_ growled Toboe, laying back his ears in anger and regret as he thought of what Leara had done to him all those years ago. Even now, that small betrayal stung like it had happened yesterday.

Arryn met Toboe's furious gaze somberly. "Aye. They could be…but they are not." He turned his head to look at Ashi again. "Those who know your secret, Ashi, are not the ones you should be afraid of. Those two care more for you than any two strangers should. You do not remember them, but when you were cast out into the snow, they took care of you, even knowing what you were."

He smiled when he saw Ashi's ears perk up with interest. "They would not willingly put you in danger."

Hige snarled. _"Then what was all that he said to Ashi in that castle. Idle talk?"_

Arryn glared at Hige. "Indeed. James Potter was simply frustrated that Ashi did not turn out to be the perfect son he was envisioning. He has not had time to sharpen his parenting skills to the level they need to be to understand a headstrong young wizard. He deals with hardened criminals, who only respond to harsh words and force, and his wife, who loves him nearly as much as life itself; polar opposites. He has had no chance to cultivate a balance between the two."

 _"_ _How do we know he won't turn those harsh words and force on Ashi when he doesn't get what he wants?"_ asked Tsume.

Arryn shook his head. "He will not. As much as he cannot control his tempestuous words, he has never given more than he was willing to take responsibility for. You can rest easy knowing that James Potter will never lay a hand on you with the intent to harm…unless you deserve it."

Kiba tilted his head a bit, considering all of this. Despite how quickly they had pulled Ashi out of that castle, they all wanted him to have the new experience of a school, friends, and to get to know a culture that was different from his own. _"You sound like you know the Potters personally. How do we know you're not trying to trick us back there?"_

"I know the Potters, but I am not their friend. They know nothing of me and my kind, but I have been watching them for many years. This prophecy has been in the making for many years now."

Kiba huffed. "And _how do we know we can trust you?"_ he asked suspiciously.

Arryn turned in a circle and met the gazes of all of the wolves, ending with Ashi. "Because I am like you," he said softly.

Ashi took a step back, wary of what the centaur meant by that, while the other wolves shifted uncomfortably, wondering the same thing.

Arryn reached into his pouch and pulled out a long, thin, pointed stick: a wand.

Ashi growled. _"Where did you get that? I thought non-magicals could not wield wands."_

"Indeed they can't," smiled Arryn, holding and examining the wand like it was a precious family heirloom. "Only humans feel the need to use wands; elves have no need of them, and all other magical creatures have so little magic that there is no point in having one. But I am not an ordinary centaur. Like you, my family was gone when I was just a colt, but a wizarding family found me and took me in. They performed a Blood Adoption, just like the Potters did with you, and I was granted a magical core."

 _"_ _Bull!"_ barked Tsume. _"Magic isn't compatible with centaurs. There's never been one that had magic."_

Arryn pointed his wand at Tsume—Tsume flattened his ears and crouched so low he was almost laying down—and said, "You have not had your ear close enough to the ground or your eyes high enough in the sky to hear and know their secrets." He flung his arm skyward and a flurry of red sparks burst from his wand and exploded into the night, startling all of the wolves into flinching, proving that he could indeed wield magic.

The centaur turned back to Ashi. "The Blood Adoption does more than simply make us a part of their families. It grants us magical capabilities that were never before heard of in our species. But these powers come with a price. If we do not train them, train ourselves to _use_ them, we endanger those around us, both loved ones and strangers."

 _"_ _Yeah, yeah. We've heard all that,"_ scoffed Hige. _"So someone might get shocked, or burned, or healed every once in a while. We'll deal with it."_

"NO!" shouted Arryn, whirling on Hige thunderously. He stomped up to the wolf so quickly and with such bravado that Hige flattened his ears and leaned to the side, low to the ground beneath the centaur's rage. "I am not simply talking about… _party_ tricks." He looked at Ashi and pointed a finger at him. "You have inherited magic equivalent to _two_ magic cores: one from your mother, one from your father. Your magic is so powerful it has the potential to tip the balance of world to one side or the other. If left unchecked, you could heal plagues…or destroy continents…and you'll never be able to predict which. None will survive if you do not harness your power."

Ashi's ears flicked up and down as he thought of such power boiling within him, ready to explode at any moment. On the one hand, it was exhilarating to have access to it—none would dare attack him or his pack ever again. On the other, he would have no control over it; he could just as easily hurt his family as his enemies.

 _"_ _No. No. No!"_ he whined, overwhelmed by the sudden responsibility that had been thrust upon him. _"You lie!"_ For if the centaur wasn't, Ashi would have to make the excruciating decision to go back on his pack's word to the Potters, to go back to the castle where he could be locked in a cage without a moment's notice.

" _Enough!"_ shouted Tsume. _"You have no right to barge in here and flail around making outrageous accusations. Like that pup could ever have a chance of taking out a single pack of enemies, let alone a whole continent."_

Arryn lifted his chin. He was determined to prove to them just how dangerous uncontrolled magic was. "Very well. If you do not believe me, I will show you." He waved the wand silently and a puddle of water bubbled up from the ground in front of him.

The pack crept forward to gaze at their reflections.

 _"_ _Wow. That's really powerful alright,"_ commented Hige dryly.

Arryn glared but didn't say anything. He waved his wand again and the wolves' doppelgangers disappeared, replaced by the sun setting over a large grassy field.

* * *

A young centaur about nine years old **(as far as I know, there's no set life-span of a centaur for HP, so I'm aging them at about the same rate as regular humans)** was galloping across with a smile on his face and his arms full of juicy red apples. A small outcropping of buildings soon appeared. There was a regal white farmhouse next to a huge red barn. A heap of scrap metal and junk was piled next to a small shed a little way away from the barn.

The young centaur galloped up to the barn and trotted in gleefully. "Pa!" he called. His voice was garbled by the water, but the pack could understand him clearly enough. "Look what I found!"

A man, roughly in his forties, poked his head out from behind a stall. "Eh? What's that, Ar'rn? What'cha got there?"

The centaur trotted up to the man and proudly held up his haul. "I found an apple tree at the end of the pasture."

"Well, good for you." The man grabbed one of the apples, shined it on his shirt, and took a big bite. He hummed appreciatively as he chewed. "Better go take the rest of 'em to your mum. Might talk her into making one of her apple pies."

The centaur nodded and turned to exit the barn.

"By the way, Ar'rn," called the man. "Where did you say you found these?"

"At the west end of the pasture."

The man's face paled. "The…west…end?" he balked.

The centaur frowned and answered affirmatively.

The man threw down his pitchfork and marched out of the barn, the centaur stumbling along behind, trying to figure out what he had done wrong.

* * *

The picture rippled and disappeared.

"I had taken the apples from a tree that belonged to one of the neighboring farms," explained Arryn. "Most of the others wouldn't have minded—it was only half a dozen—but this particular wizard was very stingy and greedy. He found out about my mistake and came to our house that night." Another picture appeared in the puddle. "That was the night I found out I had inherited magic."

* * *

Lightning flashed in the windows of the farmhouse as the centaur, his father, and his mother sat around the table, or stood in the centaur's case. The centaur looked crestfallen, picking at his dinner, as his father just glared at his plate of steak and mashed potatoes, fork in grasped tightly in one hand and knife in the other. The woman took small, slow bites.

They all startled when someone pounded angrily at their door.

The man rose with a scrape of his chair.

"Jason," pleaded the woman.

Jason motioned for her to remain in her seat. "I'll take care of this, Lyra." He moved to answer the door.

A lantern held high by the stranger lit up his enraged face. "Your mule has been stealing from my farm!" he shouted without preamble.

"Now, Rick," reasoned Jason. "He didn't know it was your farm. He's only just arrived."

"I don't care!" bellowed Rick, raising a lamp to intimidate Jason. "He stole from me and I demand justice!"

"Alright. We have the apples right here," Jason motioned to a basket on a china hutch next to the door. "You can have them back and I've scolded him good and hard for taking what's not his."

The stranger barked out a laugh. "Scolded?" he asked incredulously. "Scolded? That ain't gonna get the lesson through his head. I want something to remind him he did wrong by me." He glared around the door at the centaur, who shrank beneath his gaze, then turned a smile to outside.

"Me and my gang been thinkin'," he purred. "Didn't there used to be a penalty for stealin' way back when? What was it again?"

"Hangin'!" shouted a voice from outside.

"Prison!" shouted another.

"Lose a finger!" contributed a third.

"Ooh, I like that one," chucked Rick. "How's that sound?" He turned his steely gaze back to Jason, waiting for a reply.

"Now, wait a minute—" protested Jason.

"Not watin' 'nother second!" bellowed Rick. "Boys! Let's get our penance!"

A surge of bodies pushed through the door and rushed to subdue the family. Jason hollered and yelled for them to stop, but there were too many for him to even think about fighting back.

More men skirted around the table and grabbed Lyra, ignoring her screams while four of them wrestled the wailing centaur to the floor. They wrested one of his arms out and held it tight to the ground while Rick slowly walked over to him, boots thumping and spurs clinking on the wood floor.

"Don't you touch him!" roared Jason as he struggled to get away from his captors.

Lyra had run out of screams and just watched, sobbing quietly.

The centaur watched fearfully as Rick approached, fighting and failing to keep back tears and whimpers.

Rick knelt down by the centaur's hand and pulled a long knife out of his boot. He fingered it delicately with a lover's touch. "Yeah," he whispered. "You'll teach this vagabond to steal from me, won't you, Mira Jane."

With a terrified cry, the centaur tried to pull his hand back but only managed to shift it half an inch. The men on top of him were too strong for him.

Rick grinned, showing off a few yellow-stained teeth as he gently brought the knife down next to the centaur's index finger. His smile grew when another whimper escaped the centaur's mouth. The knife scraped against the floorboards, leaving a white scratch, until it touched flesh. Rick put more pressure on the handle until the blade drew a bead of blood.

The centaur screamed at the top of his lungs and thunder rang through the sky. Windows blew out with a noise like cannon-fire and wind whipped around the house uncontested, knocking over plates and chairs and pictures. A bolt of lightning blasted through the house to land less than a foot away from Rick. Thunder boomed immediately after.

Rick's grunts screamed and yelled, scrambling over each other to get out the door. Rick was trampled underfoot, spewing curses at his men for forgetting they had magic too and at the storm, until two decided he was worth the effort to pick up and drag out the door with them.

The house emptied as quickly as it had filled. The wind died down and the lightning and thunder seemed to follow the gang of vagabonds as the scurried back to the safety of their own home.

Lyra dropped to her knees next to the centaur and pulled him into her arms. She rocked and shushed him as he sobbed.

* * *

 _"_ _That was you?"_ asked Toboe. _"How could you tell?"_

Arryn stowed his wand in his pouch and the puddle sank back into the ground. "Same way any magician can tell when he uses magic. I felt something leave me during and I was drained after. We moved away the next morning and my parents consulted an expert of magical creatures. He suggested I attend Hogwarts, so they sent me off as soon as my acceptance letter came."

Tsume scoffed. _"Sounds like they loved you a lot,"_ he said sarcastically.

Arryn glared. "It was the only way to keep everyone safe. I'm sure you've heard stories of what happens to wizards and witches who do not bother to learn how to control their powers, then try to suppress them?"

 _"_ _Yeah. And?"_ asked Kiba.

"They're true. Obscurials exist and they are very dangerous, whether they mean to harm or not."

 _"_ _What if I don't have that problem?"_ argued Ashi _. "Or what if I just went to a different school?"_

" _All_ untrained magi become obscurials eventually. And Hogwarts will need you in years to come. You would certainly have the same education at Durmstrang, but the troubles lurking at Hogwarts will give you the experience you need to face the evil that is coming."

 _"_ _What about the Potters?"_ growled Hige. _"We still have no proof that they won't come after us at the drop of a hat."_

"I will take care of the Potters if that happens. But I have been watching them for years; they pose no threat to you."

 _"_ _So you've said,"_ muttered Tsume sulkily.

 _"_ _No,"_ declared Kiba. _"He's not going back."_

 _"_ _Kiba's right_ ," Hige agreed. _"We gave them a chance and they blew it."_

 _"_ _What if I want to go back?"_ snapped Ashi. _"If he's right, I could do a lot of damage if I lose control."_ He smiled a wolf's grin. _"Hell of a way for me to repay you for raising me for the last eleven years. Besides, didn't we decide the reason I would go to the school was to stop me from becoming an obscurial anyway?"_

 _"_ _But how do we know we can trust him?"_ growled Tsume. _"For all we know, he could be lying."_

 _"_ We do not lie, _"_ frowned Arryn. "Centaurs never lie. It is beneath us, though there may be some who manipulate the truth."

Ashi nodded. _"I'm going back. If I'm going to become a true wolf, how can I run at the first sign of danger."_

Kiba growled, then looked away and huffed in resignation. _"Fine. But on one condition: we have a plan to get you out if something goes wrong."_

Ashi grinned again. _"Piece of cake."_

Arryn nodded approvingly. "And I will assist you however I can should you need it." He reached into his bag again and pulled out a small golden ring strung on a silver chain. "Use this to communicate with me. Say _nuntis_ to activate the spell, then speak your message. _Mittre nuntis_ will send your message to this ring," he pulled out a second identical ring, "which I will be wearing. The rings will warm when they have received a message."

Ashi shifted into a human and reached up to take the ring. He examined it for a second, then looped it around his neck. It dropped into his shirt, hiding from view.

"Keep in mind, though," continued Arryn, "that these rings can only send short messages, about ten words." He placed his own ring around his neck. "We should use them to arrange meeting times and alert each other of dangerous situations."

"Sure. Whatever you say. Um, are you staying near the castle or something?" asked Ashi, fingering the cold ring.

Arryn nodded. "You are important to the future, so I must protect you."

 _"_ _Wonderful, Ashi,"_ quipped Toboe. " _You have a mother-horse._ "

Arryn snorted indignantly and stamped a hoof. "Indeed," he drawled, unimpressed. "However, I must warn you: your power could sway the coming war in either direction. If you are heading down a path of destruction, I will not hesitate to cut you down."

The pack growled at the threat but Ashi just nodded. "Good. If I do that, I've lost my mind and I deserve it."

Arryn smiled and nodded approvingly.

" _We better start heading back to the castle," continued Ashi as he shifted back into a wolf. "Classes start the day after tomorrow."_

"You need not worry about that, Ashi," smiled Arryn. "I can apparate you all to the castle borders in the morning."

 _"_ _Oh, thank goodness,"_ sighed Toboe. " _I was worried we might have to run all the way back there."_

" _Of course you would, Runt,"_ Tsume scoffed. " _That's why you need to train more. You're still too wimpy."_

Hige smiled. " _Like you're one to talk, Tsume. As I recall, you were just as tired as the rest of us_ and _you were one of the first to fall asleep._ "

 _"_ _Shut up,"_ Tsume growled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Arryn is an OC. He won't be around a lot, but he'll have an impact. I'm really not even sure why I created him other than I needed a way to convince Ashi to go back to Hogwarts since it's kinda obvious the Potters weren't going to be able to. Arryn's kinda a cool character though. FYI for those of you who are wondering (and I'm not sure when I'm gonna be able to mention it), he got all those scars because he was bullied a lot, by both humans and centaurs. The centaurs did most of the damage though (I've got nothing against centaurs, but the herd by Hogwarts was portrayed by the books and movies as being stuck up and self-righteous and a centaur with magic? well, that just does not happen).


	22. Resolution

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry for the late update. The only excuse I have is that it's been a very stressful month, especially last week. But enough about that; enjoy your update.

 

Ashi had heard about apparition and portkeys. He had read about them, asked Blaise and Draco about them, knew that it was an unpleasant experience. But having all that knowledge didn’t prepare him for what teleportation was truly like.

The pack gathered in front of Arryn and watched expectantly as he held out a battered, old tin can. They gave him and each other dubious looks when he told them it was the portkey, but took hold of it when Ashi nodded an affirmative.

Ashi grasped the old tin can, prepared for something odd and disorienting. He wasn’t prepared to be jerked off his feet and have his body feel like it was being crushed, rearranged, and put back together in the span of half a second.

When his feet hit the ground, he immediately lost his balance and fell to his knees, coughing. They had all taken Arryn’s advice and not eaten breakfast, so he didn’t have anything to vomit back up. That didn’t make it any more pleasant, though.

A few yards away Hige lay flat out on the ground, heaving great gulps of air and moaning. Tsume stumbled to the nearest tree and leaned against it. Toboe knelt on the ground, grasping his head. Kiba just sat down hard and pulled his knees up to drop his head between them.

Arryn stamped a hoof as he surveyed them all. “Yes, well,” he muttered, sounding almost apologetic. “I did warn you that traveling by portkey or apparition can be a bit…throwing for first-timers.”

“Are you sure this isn’t some kind of torture?” gasped Hige as he rolled over to try to stand up.

“Mmm, I suppose it could be,” conceded Arryn thoughtfully. “But no. Why give your prisoner a chance to escape? Besides, most people become quite used to it after a while.”

“I highly doubt that,” groaned Kiba.

Arryn just chuckled. “Now, then. I must leave you all. Ashi, I suggest you make peace with your adoptive parents before too long.”

Ashi lifted a hand to give him a thumbs-up, even though he had no intention of doing any such thing. The next time the Potters would see him would be in class the next day if he had anything to say about it.

“Very well. I shall see you all at the end of the year…unless, of course, problems arise.”

Toboe’s head jerked up. “Problems? What sort of problems?”

Arryn was already walking away, but he lifted a hand and waved it around vaguely. “Oh, you know. The usual: Death Eaters, Dark creatures, and, um, the plague.” He flicked his tail once more before melting into the twilight of the forest.

“Plague? It’s gonna be a common thing to have the plague?”

“He’s twisting your tail, Toboe,” said Tsume.

“The Forbidden Forest _is_ supposed to have some pretty nasty creatures, though,” commented Ashi nonchalantly, peeking at Toboe from the corner of his eye.

“Really? Like what?”

“Oh, trolls and skeleton horses and huge spiders and a few others.”

“Now _he’s_ pulling your tail,” grumbled Hige.

“Am not!”

“Really, then prove it,” challenged Kiba, smiling a bit.

“Y-yeah,” agreed Toboe. “We haven’t seen any of those things yet.” Even though he had spent eleven years roughing it with the rest of his pack—and had grown a bit of a backbone—the unknown still terrified him.

“Toboe, we’ve been here a week. We haven’t even met the herd of centaurs yet,” scolded Hige.

Toboe looked back at Ashi. “So…they could be real, then?”

“Dunno,” Ashi shrugged. “I heard a lot of students think all those creatures are extinct and others don’t believe they would have things so dangerous near a bunch of kids.”

“Oh, shut up, Ashi,” said Tsume as he stood up. “You’re gonna give the Runt a heart attack.”

“Hey!” retorted Toboe. “I’m not a runt anymore.”

“So, you admit to once being a runt?” smiled Hige.

“That’s not what I meant!”

“Nah. You said it: you used to be a runt. Which means you could still have a little runtiness in you.”

“Shut up, Hige.”

* * *

They spent the rest of the morning recovering from the portkey—although that was just an excuse to nap all day. They did go hunting in the afternoon and caught a buck. As the day wore on, Ashi started to get nervous about what would happen when he went back to the castle. Toboe volunteered to spar with him for the rest of the afternoon to release some of their extra energy.

It was dark by the time Ashi slinked back into the castle, long past curfew. He made his way through the corridors and down the stairs to the dungeons. He stepped silently through the door and up the stairs to his dorm room. The staircase was lit with a few sparse torches, but he could still make out a light underneath his door.

Ashi sighed. He didn’t really want to deal with this right now; he didn’t ever want to deal with it. But he would have to sooner or later. Might as well do it now while he was in a moderately good mood.

He pushed open the door slowly.

It creaked, sounding like the loudest thing in the world in the late-night silence. In reality, it wasn’t very loud, but it did alert the other two Slytherins. They were watching the door and waiting for him when Ashi stepped through.

None of them said anything for a long moment. Then Ashi stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. As soon as the latch clicked into its slot, Blaise was off his bed and rushing toward Ashi to look him over.

“Merlin, Ashi. Where have you been?” he whisper-shrieked. “You just…disappeared!”

Ashi shoved Blaise to the side. “I’m fine,” he mumbled. “I just had to, um, deal with…stuff.”

Still sitting Indian-style on the middle bed, Draco crossed his arms and frowned. “You were gone for nearly two nights. Where were you?”

Ashi stepped past him to his own trunk and opened it, rooting around for something, anything to distract himself and make it look like he was busy. “Out,” he replied shortly.

“Well, that much was obvious. But where did you manage to disappear to that none of the professors could find you,” snapped Draco.

“Yeah,” agreed Blaise. “You know how crazy it’s gotten since you’ve gone? Hogwarts has never had a student disappear so everyone was going nuts looking for you when they found out.”

Ashi snorted. “I doubt many students in this school care that much about my wellbeing.”

“Well, you’re right,” Blaise muttered, shifting his weight from foot to foot, “but the professors were certainly worried…and the Potters.”

Ashi straightened abruptly and his trunk lid slammed shut with a loud bang. “Don’t mention them to me!” he hissed. “No matter what some wise-ass, old centaur says, I have no guarantee they’re concerned for my wellbeing. They have done nothing but buy me pretty things, then turn around and threaten me! They should have no right to have any say in my life, especially now.” He took a deep breath. He set his hands down on his bedsheets and dropped his head.

Blaise and Draco exchanged a shell-shocked glance.

“They, they threatened you?” asked Blaise.

“What old centaur?” asked Draco.

Ashi sighed through his nose and looked up at them, debating how much he should tell them. “Yeah. They blackmailed me with something really personal. That’s why I left. Then this wierdo centaur finds me in the forest and says to only way to protect my pa-ahh—family is to attend Hogwarts.”

Draco pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered under his breath.

Blaise’s mouth dropped open. “Hold up. The forest? As in the Forbidden Forest?” At Ashi’s nod, he began sputtering. “Wh-why would you go there? You do know how dangerous that’s supposed to be, right? You could have died or something! You could get expelled if they ever find out you went in there.”

“It’s not anymore dangerous than here,” grumbled Ashi.

“Now wait a minute,” objected Blaise.

“He’s got a point, Blaise,” interrupted Draco. “The Potters are a powerful family. If they’re threatening him, he could get in a lot of trouble.”

“Yeah, but so are the Malfoys,” shot back Blaise. “You could help him, Draco.”

“No,” said Ashi. “I have to deal with this on my own or they’ll never take me seriously.”

“But we’re Slytherins!” said Blaise. “We’re supposed to take care of our own.”

“What he means is,” added Draco, shooting a glare at Blaise, “we’ll have your back if you need it, Potters or no Potters.”

The corners of Ashi’s mouth quirked up in a small smile. “Thanks, guys.”

* * *

Ashi dragged his feet all the way to the Great Hall the next morning. He needed to make an appearance, at least for Blaise and Draco’s sakes so they wouldn’t think he was staring himself, and to let the other professors know he had come back. Granted, he didn’t really care what the other professors thought about him but the sooner they called off the search for him, the less harassment and attention Ashi would get from them and the other students.

On the other hand, he wasn’t looking forward to letting Lily see him. She would no doubt charge straight down to the Slytherin table to confront him. The best course of action would be for him to just grab a little some5ing and make a beeline out of the Hall before she could reach him.

Ashi practically crawled up the last flight of stairs. Despite the early hour, there were already quite a few students milling about and making their way to breakfast; few enough that his entrance was noticeable, yet enough that gossip could be spread quickly. Great, just great.

Next to him, Blaise was chatting in his ear, trying to distract Ashi from all the stares as they scurried over to their seats.

Ashi shot a quick glance at the Head Table. There she was: miss Queen of Gryffindor and, apparently, his life. He saw her shift in her seat, eyes widening, when she saw him.

Time to go.

He dropped his eyes to search for some morsel he could steal away with him as he made his escape. He grabbed a piece of toast and turned on his heel. He took a step so quickly he almost ran into Draco, who was standing right behind him.

Draco narrowed his eyes at the food in Ashi’s hand. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked suspiciously.

“Away,” replied Ashi. He tried to sidestep the other Slytherin but Draco matched him and crossed his arms.

“Nuh uh. You’re staying right here and giving her what for.”

Draco, please,” Ashi groaned. “I don’t want to have to deal with this right now.”

“Too bad. You’re gonna have to deal with it sooner or later and at least if you do it right here, right now, she won’t be able to threaten you again.” He paused and leaned forward to whisper, “and then the other Slytherin will know what’s up and you’ll have the entire House on your side.”

“Plus,” piped up Blaise from the table, “if you leave now and everyone learns about this anyway—as we know they will— you’ll look like a coward.”

“You think I give a damn about what everyone thinks of me?” growled Ashi.

“No,” shrugged Blaise. “It’s pretty obvious you don’t. But we’re Slytherins. _We_ care how we look.” He sighed. “Look, Ashi. The Gryffindors already hate you for going Dark. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are on the cusp of hating you and not caring. Slytherin is all you have left and if you disgrace _them_ , you’re not going to survive in this school very long.”

Ashi didn’t get a chance to retort.

“Ashi!” called Lily as she squeezed between a group of students trying to sit themselves at the Hufflepuff table. “Where have you been?!”

Several heads turned to stare in their direction. Ashi glared at Draco and Blaise, who glared back and shrugged respectively, then turned to face her.

“Avoiding you,” he said nastily.

“Don’t you take that tone with me,” scolded Lily. “You’ve been missing for two days. Where. Have. You. Been?”

“What, you expected me to stay here after you threatened me like that?” snapped Ashi.

The corners of her eyes crinkled a bit like she was in pain. “We—we didn’t threaten you, Ashi,” she replied softly.

Ashi tilted his head back in a silent groan. “So you’ve said. And yet, somehow I don’t believe you.”

“Look, Ashi,” she reasoned, “I’m sorry all that happened. James was… _is_ worried about you, and so am I.”

“Funny way you show your worry,” muttered Blaise at her elbow.

“You say out of this,” Lily barked.

“Why?” demanded Ashi. “Why should he stay out of this? I actually know him better than I know you, right now. So why should you be able to rule my life but he doesn’t get to even _comment_?”

“Because I’m your mother!” she shouted.

“Uh, no, you’re not,” Ashi snorted. “You’re just some lady who decided to show up one day and take over.”

“But I—” Lily stopped, then sighed through her nose to calm herself. “No. You know what, Ashi? You’re right.”

Ashi’s mouth nearly dropped open in shock. Blaise shifted in his seat to gaze up at her suspiciously. Draco was behind Ashi so he couldn’t be sure, but he could almost sense the other boy giving her the same dubious look.

“You’re right,” repeated Lily. “I’m not your mother, and I haven’t met you once in over nine years. But you know what? I don’t care. Your real mother abandoned you. Outside. In the cold. You were just a baby. You know who would do something like that? Someone who doesn’t care about that baby.

“But I did. We did. James and I cared. It didn’t matter that we didn’t know who, or even what, you were. You could have been an elaborate trap by You-Know-Who to get back at us, but we didn’t care. All we cared about was that a baby had been left to die out in the snow.”

Silence blanketed their small corner of the world. Ashi could sense the crowd’s favor had flipped from his side to hers now. _Well, now what?_ he could almost hear them thinking. _She saved you from freezing to death. Shouldn’t you be grateful_?

“Well, nobody asked you to,” he growled.

Lily sighed and rubbed her forehead. “Can we start over, Ashi? Pretend like this never happened?”

Ashi blinked at her.

“I’m sorry that it seemed like we were threatening you. It won’t happen again. But at least now you know what we know. And you know what else? We don’t care. About any of that. So can we start over?”

He was still silent.

“It doesn’t even have to be as mother and son. Why don’t we just start as professor and student for now? Get to know each other.”

Ashi considered it. It was actually a pretty good deal…as long as she honored it. Which, according to the nosy centaur, she would. He still had an uneasy feeling crawling over his skin, but he had had that ever since he arrived at Hogwarts. It was almost enough to make him scrap this whole deal and go on with his life as a wolf. But if Arryn was right, Ashi wanted to be able to protect his pack.

Even back in their own world, the Paradise pack hadn’t been able to fend off military weapons by themselves very well. This world was even more advanced, maybe not in the scientific community but definitely in the weapon department. And if the threat was magical, they would all wind up dead at the first battle. They had no way to protect themselves from magic…except for Ashi.

If Ashi could learn how to defend himself, he could defend his pack. And maybe pay them back for taking care of a snot-nosed brat like him for nearly a decade.

“…Fine,” he finally ground out.

Lily sagged her shoulders in relief. “Thank you, Ashi.”

“You can start by letting me go to class.”

She blinked. “But…classes don’t start for another half an hour.”

“I like to get there early,” he shrugged.

“Okay. Sure. Go ahead. Um, have a good day, then.”

Ashi turned on his heel, grinned snarkily at Draco, then left the Great Hall.


End file.
